This is all Olivia Benson's Fault
by commasplice27
Summary: SVU/LnO - femslash - Casey Novak/Serena Southerlyn, established Alex/Olivia, Matchmaking, unexpected yenta, slow-ish burn, meddling, summer fluff, situational clumsiness. Summary: Serena is not going to roll over and start lusting after a colleague just because Alex says so.
1. Chapter 1

**1**

Alex Cabot had waltzed back into Olivia's life - escorted by triumphant US Marshalls, no less. If ever a return called for such heralding, it was hers. The immediate aftermath was a whirlwind that involved Alex being bombarded by family, friends, the politically powerful, and co-workers all biding their time for a handshake or hug.

Olivia waited and bided her time through the hoards of admirers and well wishers. She waited, eerily calm, collected and filled with an awed contentment- and watched. She kept Alex in her line of sight at all times, and finally, when the celebration calmed, simply walked over and took her hand. Music might as well have swelled up around them as she very clearly and bodily felt the rightness of the gesture. It felt like she were the one coming home.

She had seen past the brilliant smile to the guarded vulnerability behind her eyes that was somehow, miraculously, still open to her. In that moment, she very clearly realized that from then on, there would be few circumstances in which she would be able to deny Alex anything.

 _Have dinner with me… Come to the press conference Branch is throwing for me… Move in with me…_

She had known, right then in that moment, that she wouldn't be able to say _no_ to to her.

Nor did she particularly want to.

Life had proven to turn on them far to quickly.

In all honestly, everything since that moment had been nestled into a hazy honeymoon period with a nearly endless " _yes"-es_ from Olivia.

That is until, after one particularly long day at work, Olivia found herself saying what she thought she'd never thought she'd say.

"No."

However, as effective as it was, it might as well have been shouted into the void.

"No," Olivia tried again.

She was pleased at the definite tone in her voice, she nodded at herself a little, determined to hold her ground. "Alex, I really mean it. No."

Alex laughed at her. It was a single, happy little sound. She had actually laughed and otherwise ignored Olivia as she walked into the closet.

"Under no circumstances will you do this," Olivia tried. " _Again._ "

Alex slowly undressed in the closet, smiling to herself as she hung up her suit jacket. She looked over her shoulder at Olivia who was now unceremoniously slumped over on the bed. She laughed again, amused at the disheveled sight, and then smiled a slow, predatory, glowing smile.

Olivia looked at her and then cleared her throat and tried to summon all of her tried and true authority into her voice.

"No." she said again. She knew she might be losing her ground, but maybe an attempt at nicety could at least halt the topic at hand. "Alex, please."

"Why do you assume to know where I was going with this?"

"Alex," Olivia said in a long, extended groan.

Alex laughed louder this time and continued on as if there had been no objection. "I can present evidence."

"No, no, no, no, no." Olivia sat up and shook her head.

When Alex stopped laughing she said, "It's a crush. An obvious, and kind of adorable, crush."

Olivia held a hand up and said, "She has never said _one_ word about the woman to me."

Alex smiled deviously again. "I was an eye witness."

"You _know_ that eye witness accounts are notoriously unreliable," Olivia tried again. Her reply met with only silence. She sat up and looked around for an avenue of retreat. Noticing the determined, if amused look on Alex's face, she gave up and rubbed at her forehead to ward off a headache. "I am still dealing with the fallout from Munch and Angela-from-the-lab."

Alex gave a short nod of acceptance. "I'll give you that they made more sense on paper," she held up her hands as if to say _what can you do?_ "They had plenty in common and they did get a long quite well for a while."

"Yes, and then their conspiracy-theory-based relationship turned into world war three and started an endless feud with her _entire_ CSU shift. I'm pretty sure they poisoned his desk plant. And, last week I had to bribe them with food to get our evidence processed before Homicide's."

"This situation is entirely different. This is not a blind set-up. They know each other, they have the same job, same hours - they would be well suited for one another, and," she added brightly, "we already know that one party is interested in the other."

"You're so much busier now. You can't possibly have time for this."

"Time for what? Just what is it that you think I'd be doing?"

Olivia closed her eyes, counted to ten and tried again.

"Casey could get a date any time she wanted," Olivia tried.

"Yes, she could," Alex said in that _thank you for proving my point for me_ tone of hers. "So why then, has she been so very single lately."

"She's fine and besides I think she's still dating that woman from her building."

"You don't date people living in your building. Everybody knows that. And, if they were seriously involved, you'd have heard a lot more by now."

"Alex," Olivia nearly whined, but change the inflection in her voice once she heard herself. She sighed and turned to face her. "Tell me what it is that you _think_ you saw."

"She almost impaled Serena with a pen today."

A laugh finally broke Olivia's dour countenance. "You call that evidence? For Casey, that's a Monday."

"No, she wasn't distracted or messing around." Alex said. "We were simply catching up in her office while I was waiting for Serena. She was signing off on some paperwork. When Serena showed up, Casey's pen went _flying_."

Olivia wanted to laugh, but didn't want to encourage Alex any. "And it hit her?"

"No. It hit the door behind her and broke into pieces that scattered down the hall."

"That doesn't mean anything," she tried to reason. "That's just Casey being Casey. She is occasionally… uncoordinated."

"Serena saying _Hello_ to the woman struck her dumb. She could barely say _Hi_ back." Alex said. "Have you ever seen - _Casey_ \- speechless?"

"She was probably just embarrassed."

She favored Olivia with a simultaneously fond and condescending look. "Has it ever occurred to you that Casey doesn't get embarrassed about any of the clumsy or awkward things she does?" Alex smiled triumphantly. "She usually takes them in stride and moves on."

"Well," Olivia mocked back, "I'd say you're reaching."

"I really don't know what you're working yourself up about anyway. All I did was tell you about my day. It's not like I'm planning anything." She kissed Olivia on the cheek and then turned toward her nightstand to reach for her phone.

"Yet," Olivia muttered under her breath, and went in search of headache pills. She picked up the bottle from the medicine cabinet and shook out a couple, still amused and thankful that Alex was here, even if she was determined to cause little fires for her to put out just to amuse herself.


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

Serena Southerlyn ducked into her office as quickly and quietly as possible, hoping not to attract any more attention. She had absolutely filled up her attention quotas at work for the entire month. In fact, she had retreated to her office for a chance to reset and collect herself without an audience.

She should have reconsidered footwear though, especially on a day where she needed to finish a task before another could be piled on, as the echoing of her beautiful heels broadcasted her exact location to anyone within earshot. And indeed, they did, as she could see the EADA look up and make a beeline for her.

Serena straightened her posture, closed the file on her desk, took a deep breath and prepared herself for the inevitable onslaught of questions as she removed the melting bag of ice from her head.

"What the hell happened to you?"

Jack McCoy was not known for his empathy, but still, he moved in closer to inspect the alarming condition of his second-chair.

His eyes went wide and he winced as he got a better look. "That's an impressive goose-egg there, counselor."

Serena tapped her fingers against the table in agitation. Any hopes she had for the ice returning her appearance back to normal had just been dashed.

The medic who had attended to her had said the ice would reduce some of the swelling and slow further bruising. _So much for that,_ she thought.

"What color is it now?"

He could see her try and move both of her brows and wince. He cleared his throat. "Well, the color isn't great, but that's not the real problem. The real issue is that the bump is huge. Are you okay? Do you need to go to a doctor?"

"I'm fine. I'm more worried about court this afternoon than I am about myself."

Their current court case involved a homicide with a history of domestic violence. As a team they had decided that the next line of questioning would be better received from Serena.

She did not want to let him have this cross examination. It was a nearly childish notion considering what was at stake, but she had been up half the night preparing for it. She was more than ready, however her condition made her hesitate. "Do you think it'll be too distracting? Should you take the cross?"

"To be honest I just don't know." Jack said. "It might be." He perused her face, taking a step back to take in her appearance in total, and ended up shrugging at her with his patented wide-eyed look. "What happened?"

"Novak happened."

He turned slightly to hide his smirk, but she knew him well enough to know that the jackass was laughing.

Serena dabbed up the condensation from ice with a tissue. "You're looking at the aftermath of forehead meets coffee mug."

He stopped suppressing his laughter.

"What did you do to piss off the SVU, Serena?" He leaned on the corner of his desk, still shaking slightly from trying to hold down his laughing, "You should know better, they're feisty."

"Oh. Right. Yes. This is obviously my fault. I provoked them with my evil plans of minding my own business outside of Judge Bradley's chambers."

Walking behind them, she amended, but only in her head. She was merely walking behind Olivia and Novak. The combined physicality of the two as they practically power walked through the halls could cut a path in any crowd, even a busy courthouse. It should have been safe enough `to walk in their wake. She supposed she shouldn't have been so absorbed in the messages on her phone. She was not about to let Jack know that though, she definitely didn't want to give him that kind of ammunition.

She shook her head he was still looking at her, waiting for an explanation.

"Have you ever noticed just how much Novak gestures with her hands?" I said. "Never be behind that woman when she's pissed about a case."

"Ouch."

She gently probed the area around the goose egg. "I actually saw stars."

It had happened so fast that she was honestly bewildered to find herself on the floor. After she stopped seeing stars, she looked up to berate her attacker.

But Novak was upset and embarrassed enough as it was. She had gone completely pale - which seemed impossible on her already fair skin. She could only babble apologies. Her embarrassment only seemed to make her clumsier, because when she stood to get help, she knocked Serena's briefcase across the hall. They were unable to get anything truly comprehensible out of the woman after that… only ' _forehead_ ' ' _swelling_ ' ' _ice_ ' and ' _medical attention._ ' However, for all of her mortification, Novak was able to arrange for a medic and ice faster than Serena thought possible.

"The ironic thing was that she looked like she was the one who was going to pass out," Serena said. She was thankful the mug was empty. She had been wearing her favorite suit and didn't think she could have suffered more indignity. Shaking her head she, finally, couldn't suppress a little laugh.

"Well, Lumpy," Jack said, bringing her out of her reverie. "We have to go prep our witness one final time."

Serena glared at him and his need of having a sarcastic remark at the ready as if his reputation were built on it.

"Would you prefer Ice Princess?" He continued with a pleased with himself smile.

The melting bag of ice was getting tiresome and was starting to drip again. Serena really felt as she had no other option but to throw it at him.

He didn't duck fast enough.


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

Olivia was entirely too entertained by Casey's misfortune the entire way back to the office. She didn't often engage in finding humor at others' adversities, but today was a good day. They had won the motion, they'd probably get the deal they wanted, and the defense council was made an example of in open court. She was already riding a justifiable high. This was just the icing on the cake.

It more than made up for almost being late because she had to double back to bring Casey's mug from the precinct. That it was the woman's good luck charm seemed even funnier now.

Poor Serena was sent sprawling to the ground. Casey skidded to a halt - literally - and stared, frozen in an over-animated panic.

Southerlyn was going to be fine, but Casey still had her head buried on the desk, hidden in her folded arms. She'd refused to budge since they'd returned.

"Casey, she's fine," Olivia rubbed Casey's shoulder. "You need to relax. Everybody knows it was just an accident."

"No, it was yet another example of what my family calls _Casey Catastrophes_." Casey's sisters in particular had teased her relentlessly about being accident-prone throughout her childhood. It got to the point that she could no longer feel embarrassed about much in general, which had turned out to be very useful. However, this… debacle carried an mortification that she could not shrug off. She finally raised her head and gave Olivia a defeated look.

"Hey now, it wasn't that bad," Olivia said.

"Not that bad?" Casey's voice belied her disbelief. "We attracted the security guards, bystanders, and even a personal injury lawyer."

"Well, if you still feel guilty then why don't you send her some flowers." Olivia said with a small crooked smile. "I bet you could find something nice like a ' _get well_ ' arrangement or an ' _I'm sorry I bashed you in the head_ ' bouquet."

"Funny."

"Wait, wait," she held up a hand, her eyes gleaming. "Get her something from the _I'm sorry I mugged you_ collection."

"Are you done?" Casey said, waiting for Olivia's snickering died down. "Because this isn't helping."

"Seriously, though, it would be good way to say you're sorry."

Olivia paused though, as her thoughts caught up with her. She worried for a moment about what Alex would think, about the triumph that would come into her eyes, but she had put that aside for the moment. "It's polite."

"Flowers?" Casey stared at Olivia, speculation heavy in her gaze. She wasn't sure what proper etiquette was when you accidentally injure a co-worker, but in her mind flowers arrived with connotations- ones that made Casey's stomach clench.

"Come on, I know the florist down the street, you can order some at lunch," she said. "It's perfectly harmless. Now, quit procrastinating and start mending fences. Branch would want you to make sure there's no animosity brewing between any of his divisions."

Casey glared at her for a few moments more and then dropped her gaze. "Fine," She said, her eyebrows were furrowing. "I'll consider it if we can find anything nice." And here she'd thought her stomach couldn't drop any lower. "This week couldn't get any worse."

Olivia ducked her head closer to Casey's and said, "Every time you say something like that, a jinx fairy is born."

"Shut-up." She lightly smacked Olivia's arm.

"No, really," Olivia said. "I think you have Murphy on speed dial." She dodged Casey's second swat at her arm. "Come on, we're due back in twenty minutes, so, scrape some of that dignity up off the desk and let's get going."


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

Olivia walked up to the regular SVU table at the bar after work, but Elliot held an arm out to prevent her from joining the group.

"Maybe you should go see what's wrong with Casey," he said. He nodded toward the redhead sitting by herself at the bar with her shoulders hunched.

"Yeah," Munch said, "Somebody needs to remind her we won." The verdict and sentencing today should have made her happy, or at least as relaxed as the rest of the group. "She looks like someone kicked her puppy."

"Did you guys even bother to ask her what's wrong?" Olivia said.

"We tried," Fin said, "Couldn't get a thing out of her."

Olivia doubted their efforts but headed toward the bar anyway.

"Hey, Case," she said as approached the redhead and got on the stool next to her. "What are you drinking?"

"I'm not drinking," she said, not looking up. "I'm sampling different kinds of tequila."

Olivia surveyed the line of shot glasses in front of Casey. "That's quite a bit of sampling there. What's the occasion. I know you're not still feeling bad about earlier, you were well on your way to restoring your dignity after sending flowers."

"Dignity is for those without tequila."

Olivia smiled, but continued anyway. "Is something wrong?"

She looked up at Olivia with slightly unfocused eyes. "Nothing's wrong. I just didn't know there were so many kinds. I think my favorite is the anejo, or the respado, or the coffee flavored one," she sighed. "I love coffee."

"Okay. But if nothing's wrong, then why the solitary taste test?"

Casey shrugged.

Olivia looked at her and waited.

"Nothing's wrong," she said. "In fact, I have been directed to be celebrating, so I'm celebrating."

"Oh yeah, what are we celebrating?" Olivia held up her regular drink the bartender placed down for her.

"My perfect little sister." She tapped her shot lightly against Olivia's glass.

"And why are we toasting your sister?"

"My PERFECT little sister," Casey corrected her. "As my mother just lectured me, Mrs. Perfect is making my parents extremely happy by settling down so well."

Olivia looked at her again, and waited.

"My mother called me practically during the ultrasound appointment. My little sister is pregnant with twins." She gestured emphatically with the hand not holding the shot glass. "She has a nice husband and they have a hyphenated last name and now she's got not one, but two grandchildren for my mother on the way.-

"You'd think that would be enough to make my mother happy." Casey continued and downed her shot, forgetting all about her tasting game. "But, no. She wants to know about my prospects. I just broke up with the woman I was dating, sort of, and my mother asks me if I had any new prospects before she even took a breath."

Casey shook her head in disbelief. "That's actually what she said. Prospects." She downed another shot. "Do I have any prospects," she said rolling her eyes. "All I have is a half-assed thing for a colleague who doesn't even know I'm alive."

 _Crap._ Olivia thought. She closed her eyes and resisted banging her head against the bar as warning klaxons went off in her head. _Damnit_ , she couldn't believe that Alex was right. She stared at her reflexion in the mirror behind the bar and saw her resignation take hold.

She didn't really want or need the confirmation at this point. Heaven's knew that Alex would somehow divine that Olivia knew, that there was a formal confession that could not be contested.

And she knew that there would be no hope of ever reeling in Alex once she heard this.

But Olivia also knew that she had to steer Casey away from parental pressures, as well as the remaining shots.

She cleared her throat and gently asked, "Who doesn't know you're alive?"

"It's nothing anyway," she said in a tone of finality with long held resignation.

"It sounds like a little more than nothing."

"It's really nothing," Casey said, and sighed again. "It's a crush. It'll pass."

"Maybe. Maybe not," Olivia said, knowing that somewhere inside, Casey needed to say it out loud. "Who's got their claws in you, my friend?"

"It's not- I just think she's- and she's all around- and there's the way she- whatever," she said finally. "No one wouldn't find her attractive."

"Come on, you've got to give me something at least, since I was a bad enough friend to miss it," Olivia smiled, and decided to try a different approach.

"Oh, wait," Casey said, voice breaking high with consternation, "I can't believe I forgot, she does know I'm alive, she just is under the impression that I'm trying to kill her." She closed her eyes tightly and took a deep breath and her voice slowing to it's normal pace.

"Oh," Olivia said, and bit her lip to prevent a grin.

"Yeah," Casey sighed.

"When did this start?"

"At one those big multi-departmental meetings not too long ago. She got McCoy in trouble because she made him laugh while the DA was talking about headlines and press conferences."

"Well," Olivia said. "He probably couldn't help it, Serena can be funny."

"Well, I didn't hear what she said… but yeah… she kind of just… I don't know… when she smiled…

"Have you heard her laugh?" Casey continued, as she ran her finger around the rim of an empty shot glass. "She's got a great laugh." It was a clear, rich, happy laugh that Casey would have given all of the tequila shots in the world to have caused.

"She does," Olivia said, indulging her.

Casey sighed and started to look around for her next shot. "And then I go and nearly knock her out." She sighed dramatically. "Now you know why I didn't want to send flowers."

"I can see that, but I think it's fine." Olivia indulged her. "But anything else should probably wait until after the tequila wears off because I think you may have sampled enough tonight."

"Maybe," Casey nodded, several times. "They are starting to taste the same."

"Want me to get you a cab?"

Casey nodded again before staring off into space.

Olivia stood up and finished the rest of her drink with a sense of impending doom.


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

The phone rang just as Serena set her lunch on her desk.

"How's your ego today," her friend's voice said. "I heard it was knocked out of your head in the courthouse earlier in the week."

Serena rolled her eyes in response, even though Alex couldn't see it, as it was quintessential Alex Cabot. The familiarity of it all made her smile.

She was touched, really, that Alex had wanted to start their lunches back up again. They had always attempted to meet for lunch a few times a month before Alex had gone away. They could never quite make it weekly, though they often tried. However, even if they could only meet by phone, starting up the tradition again meant something to her. It also seemed that Alex could still not be bothered to start a conversation like a normal person.

"I'm much better. Thanks for the sympathy," Serena said, trying to put the rolling of her eyes into her tone. "I look nearly human today. "

She arranged her coffee and food and forked through her salad for the rogue pieces of chicken. It was the first time she'd had a break all morning- the day had felt like it had gone on forever and it was only lunchtime and she felt like there was no end in sight, making her feel more tired than it should have.

"Oh, poor thing. Are you having a bad day?"

Alex's fake callousness made her smile every time.

"Fine, It hasn't been all bad. We got the grand jury indictment, and then, if you can believe it, my own personal assailant bumped into me yet again, though this time I escaped with only a small scuff."

She felt like she was suddenly seeing the klutzy redhead around everywhere.

"Who? Casey?"

"Who else?"

"She bumped into you again?" Alex asked. "Literally?"

"She was leaving Branch's office as Jack and I arrived this morning," She replied and finished off her coffee. "I'm starting to think she's a little dangerous."

"Being a bit dramatic now, are we?"

"What am I then, a special target?"

"She _may_ be a bit accident prone."

"Right," Serena said dryly, elongating the r-sound. "A _bit_ accident prone _._ "

"Actually, come to think of it," Alex continued on. "She's actually mix of graceful and clumsy… it's just not always in balance."

Serena scoffed at the word _graceful._ She picked through the rest of her salad while listening to Alex drone on about Novak and her athletic abilities. It didn't match the image of the woman that she had in her head. Novak might have had the aggressiveness and the confidence of an athlete, and the woman had the reputation for being ballsy and quick. But Serena just couldn't see the _grace_ in there.

"Yeah? Well,…" She said before her voice trailed off in want of a comeback that just wasn't there. She noted a suspicious dearth of comebacks lately if she thought about it. "Jack says that she's about as subtle as a sledgehammer."

"True, but I love that about her," Alex said. "Things that should stay in your head, rarely stay in hers. She doesn't have the patience for it."

Serena didn't quite understand why Alex was pushing so hard on defending the woman, she was about to call her on it when Alex continued.

"Do you want to meet me for a drink on Thursday after work? Maybe dinner if I get out soon enough?"

Serena smiled, pleased about the possibility even though she suspected that Olivia was probably working late.

"Just the two of us?" She clarified.

"I'm pretty sure Liv's going to be working late."

"Sounds good," Serena said, happy from the vindication from guessing correctly. She never minded hanging around the two of them as a couple. She quite liked it actually. They brought out a sweet, softer side in each other once they relaxed. But it was still nice to get some time with her one-on-one. And it was nice to have something to look forward to in the coming week.

Especially if the rest of this week was going to go as slow as her morning.

* * *

The second half of the day treated her no better than the first.

Serena yawned as she got off the elevator, seeking out even more coffee. She had spent an emotionally exhausting afternoon with the victim's family, her second chair duties condensed into playing _Jack's more sympathetic sidekick_. Which meant two hours of translating _Jack_ to the victim's family. Jack and his righteousness had nearly turned the family against them. Thankfully, he let Serena do most of the talking.

She was seriously considering adding _preventative case maintenance_ to her official job description _._ She felt that it was completely valid. She also wondered if Jack knew that the line between his understanding tones and his condescending tones kept getting thinner. And not just with the defendants.

Her phone vibrated, and Serena looked left, right, and behind her before she pulled it out to read the message. She had made it through the rest of the day without a hitch and intended to make it through the week. She raised her eyebrows at the message, partly because she could now that the swelling had gone down a bit, and partly because the message indicated a delivery had been left for her.

Even though she was expecting something, when she got back to her desk her mouth still fell open. There was a very large arrangement of flowers in the middle of her desk.

She froze at the sight and for a few moments she could only stare at them. They were lush and full and beautiful. She reached out to touch the petals, enjoying the softness across her fingers, but she was also aware there was nobody in her life at the moment who would send flowers like this. Even so, her thoughts kept circling in a loop of: _she wouldn't - not after all this time, would she?_

Taking a deep breath, she finally reached for the card.

\- I am so very sorry.

\- I am willing to offer the maximum fine for $160.00 in whatever I can get delivered to your office: coffee, food, etc.

\- I hope you feel better soon, Casey Novak

She shook her head and smirked. Novak was offering her the fine for a common mugging in coffee to be delivered to her office. The terrible law humor made her laugh about the situation for the first time though. She smiled at the honesty and the earnestness in the card. She had to hand it to Novak, the woman was not deflecting or sugar coating any part of it, and that was rather refreshing for a lawyer.

Before she could get lost in any further thoughts, Jack's voice startled her.

"Do you still have the Sumner deposition?" he said. When he fully entered her office, his gaze bounced between her and the flowers. He finally settled on Serena, looking at her expectantly. She wondered if he assumed they were from Abbie as well.

"An apology for my head," Serena said when she grew tired of trying to guess what he was thinking.

"Huh," He replied. "Well, they smell nice." He tilted his head thinking. "Which, if Novak's shooting for par, means that you're probably allergic to them."

She stared at him, trying to figure it out if he really was that cynical all the time? And if it had it influenced her own cynical nature. She suddenly had an image of the two of them as the Statler and Waldorf muppets, sarcastically critiquing everything and everyone from their balcony seats at 1PP.

She shook her head and decided that she was just cranky today. And it was a little funny. He was still an ass, but she let him off with an eye-roll.

"You wish," she said after trying to come up with some sort of remark about how he was the only thing that could give her hives. But nothing came to mind.

 _You wish_ repeated in her head. She was starting to worry about her comeback ability lately.

She backhanded the deposition folder into his mid-section to make up for her current lack of wit.


	6. Chapter 6

(*AN* sorry for any strange updates on this one, i was fighting for my line breaks... i think i lost though)

 **6**

Elliot looked up when Olivia and Casey finally came out of the interrogation room.

"Did we get a confession?"

"Yeah," Casey said, "And a plea to the assault charge. She'll serve in an adolescent psych ward until she's twenty-one."

"Never thought she'd admit it," Elliot said.

"She would have agreed to anything to get away from her sister," Olivia said.

"I know how she feels," Casey said.

Elliot looked at her, a puzzled expression on his face.

"I have to meet up with my sister in an hour. Kinda wish the plea would have taken longer."

"Casey has a personal-shopping appointment," Olivia clarified.

Elliot threw up his hands, "Nope. Don't want to hear it." He walked away quickly.

Olivia turned to Casey. "Shopping makes him twitchy," she said, smirking. "Teenage girls."

"He's a smart man."

"Oh, come on," Olivia said. "It'll be over within a few hours. How bad could it be?"

"She used to do this for a living." She shook her head at the thought. "The military would be impressed with her shopping efficiency." She packed up her briefcase. "Anyway, how's Alex doing? I haven't seen her in a while."

"She's pretty busy, but she's fine." Olivia smiled for the first time in hours. "She's getting anxious to get back in the courtroom though."

Casey looked at her expectantly.

"Don't get me wrong, she likes being bureau chief but she wants more court time. It's a matter of days until she takes over someone's case." Olivia shook her head.

"All that time in the midwest would leave anyone antsy," Casey said. "You should find her a distracting hobby."

Olivia bit her cheek to suppress a smile.

Casey continued without seeming to notice. "Anything on the Daniels' case yet?"

"Munch is hunting down a couple of leads, but I don't think we're anywhere close."

"Well, call me if you guys need anything. Anything at all. Really."

"Just go," Olivia said. "The procrastinating is getting sad."

* * *

Casey was the smart, reliable middle child, and it was these very reasons her father gave her for not having to worry about her as much as he did about her siblings.

But that didn't mean that the other members of her family didn't take turns worrying.

"What happened to the system I set up for you?" her sister yelled indignantly from the closet, ready to pull her hair out.

She'd just spent the last half hour collecting the clothes that her Casey should never, ever wear and piling them for donation. She looked through the closet again. To anyone else, it might have seemed tidy. "I spent so much time organizing this for you last time."

"I guess I just hung the stuff up as I got them back from the cleaners. Your system still works though."

"Oh really?" Her sister came out with two blouses. "Then can you tell me which blouse goes with that jacket?" She nodded at the blazer hanging on the door hook.

"Both look fine to me."

"You're hopeless," she murmured.

"You've said that already."

"Look, I'm doing this for you, you know, so you're going to have to meet me halfway here."

"This is so stupid. I hate all of this."

"I know, believe me, I know." Her sister gentled her tone and continued, "But you also know you have to care about how you look now."

"I have to look professional enough for court. That's it." Casey knew which suits were comfortable. She knew which colors she liked. What she didn't understand was why this was so complicated.

"Yes, but do you want your outfits to distract in any way from your case? Because when you put this shirt with that jacket, it's distracting."

Casey rolled her eyes. "Right, the jury cares so much about my clothes."

"The camera does, or are you going to start denying interviews after court?"

"I have more important things on my mind other than that, you know. And… I couldn't care less if people like what I'm wearing."

"I know, sweetie. I know you can't be bothered. And that's why I do this for you."

She took two blazers and backhanded them into Casey's abdomen. "Okay. How can we arrange this so you'll use it?" She appraised the closet again. "We can make tags for the suit hangers. And all you'll have to do is put your suits back on the right hangers when they come back from the dry cleaners. Besides, you're not supposed to leave your stuff on those wire hangers anyway. It's bad for the fabric."

"How do I know which shirts you deem acceptable for which suit?"

She pulled out a portable printer and a strip of photo-labels from her purse and smiled. "With this." She took a pic of the blouse. "We'll stick the pictures of your shirts to the hanger of the blazer and you can see which ones will coordinate."

Casey blinked and breathed through her nose and tried not to roll her eyes.

"I know, I know, I'm brilliant. You don't have to say it. You didn't get all the smart genes in the family, you know."

* * *

"Leave my boots alone," Casey said, loudly. "I like them."

Riley sighed as she looked around the boutique. At least these people were used to customers arguing with personal shoppers. Their whole lives, Casey had never cared much about making a scene.

Riley shook her head. She reconsidered the knee high black leather boots. "Really?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yes, really."

"I've already compromised on thicker heels."

"Not all of us feel the need to use our shoes as weapons."

"You're just jealous of my balance."

"My balance is fine. Unlike you, I'm already tall and I like my feet." She crossed her arms. "I'm not budging on the boots. If you're such a fashion genius then make them work."

"I'll tell you what; I'll try to make the boots work, if you go to my hair stylist."

Casey glared at her. She was silent for a few moments. "I'm not cutting it short," she said cautiously.

"Just tell him that. He's reasonable." _Somewhat,_ she didn't add.

"Done."

"Good, your appointment is in an hour."

"You're unbelievable. You already made the appointment?"

"Oh, yes. Weeks ago," she grinned. "This is not some cheap-cuts place, you can't just drop in."

Riley smiled and ushered her to the next section of the store. "Okay, you know what you need? A little black dress." She picked one up. "Here's a pretty one. And you have the cleavage for it."

Casey stared at the thin straps. "But you're the one who told me I couldn't pull off pretty. Or was it that I'm not pretty?"

"I said you don't _do_ pretty, not that you couldn't. And you're not pretty, you're gorgeous. Any sister of mine would have to be gorgeous."

"You say that to Marley too?"

"I don't have to - Marley already knows she's gorgeous."

Casey gave a little growl, but took the dress and walked toward the dressing room.

"It's like pulling teeth," Riley called after her.

"That's right. That's right. I'm a lot to put up with," Casey said from behind the dressing room door. "Women seem to love telling me that," she muttered.

"You have horrible taste in women. And anyway, I'm your sister. I'm allowed to say that shit."

* * *

They both felt tired, but accomplished. By the end of the night, the sisters had made enough headway for Casey's wardrobe to be set for the rest of the year.

"Come on," Riley said. "I need a San Pellegrino and you definitely need a drink. I'm buying." She ushered them into the small bar that Casey had preferred since moving from the White Collar Dept. to the SVU.

"You are so right about that," she said.

"I think someone's waving at you," Riley said, nudging her.

Casey looked to where Riley was pointing and froze.

Maybe she did cause jinx fairies to be born. They were certainly dancing around her now.

"Casey," Alex called loudly, ignoring Serena's kick under the table. "Join us."

Casey looked ready to argue, but Riley smiled and was already moving toward Alex, who was busy making room. Before she knew it Casey was being led to a seat next to Alex, and right across from Serena.

Lovely, Casey thought. Alex alone was dangerous. Her sister and Alex at the same table - Casey wasn't sure she could come out of this one alive. She was definitely not going to make it through the night with her dignity in tact.

She wondered if there were any precautions that she could have made to prevent this. She looked over at Serena. Neither Riley nor Alex knew when to leave well enough alone. The potential for damage was making her heart rate increase dramatically.

"Hi. This is my sister, Riley Novak-Winters," Casey said. "Ri, you remember Alex Cabot, and this is Serena Southerlyn, another Manhattan ADA." She tried to smile.

Riley grinned, exchanging a look with Casey as she took her seat. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Casey, I love your hair," Alex said.

Riley beamed. She'd talked Casey into highlights and layering to keep the natural waviness in her hair working for her rather than against.

Casey shook her head. "Yes, someone waylaid me into trying something new. I'm pretty sure the stylist threatened me though."

Alex, always the nosier of the two blonds, tilted her head slightly. "How so?"

"Something about cheating on him." She said incredulously. "How would I cheat on him?"

Serena laughed and it nearly caused Casey to catch her breath.

"I think he meant he wouldn't want you to go elsewhere to get your hair done," Serena continued mirthfully. "Some stylists are very territorial."

"Nice," Casey said to her sister in a mild, annoyed growl.

"I once had one threaten to chase me into the streets if I got bangs again," Alex added helpfully.

"Your hair does look great, though. I would consider keeping the temperamental hairstylist." Serena smiled. "And thank you for the flowers, by the way. They were beautiful."

Casey looked down momentarily. She could feel Alex and Riley's curiosity like static in the air. "You're welcome." She added softly, "How is…" She gestured vaguely at Serena's head.

"I'm fine." She smiled. "I can even move my eyebrows again." She wiggled them as proof.

"I'm so glad," she said. If her heart beat any faster she swore she'd pass out.

"Yeah, there's no sign it ever happened," Alex commented. "Serena's got great skin doesn't she?"

Casey blinked. And tried to remember to breathe again. "Uh, yes, she does," she said. She finally looked over at the intensely curious Riley and knew the story would be recounted for her.

Casey wondered what kind of sacrifice she could offer to reset her string of bad luck.

She had no idea how she made it through two drinks worth of time before her sister got up to use the bathroom before they could get on their way. Alex followed along, whether she was genuflecting to her sister's pregnancy or just followed the universal truth that women tended to head to the restrooms together, Casey would never know. All she did know was that she was now alone with Serena Southerly at a small table, having a drink.

An awkward silence started stretching out between them, but Serena broke it first.

"So, your sister is a personal shopper."

"It's where she started in the fashion business, but she reverts now and again in order to be able to make decisions for me."

"Siblings do love to push their weight around," Serena smirked. "Is she your only sibling?"

"There are three of us. We have an older sister in Florida. How about you? Any brothers or sisters?"

"An older brother. Much older," she raised her eyebrows. "I believe I was a surprise baby."

Casey laughed. "Does he live in the city too?"

"No Southerlyn is permitted to leave the city," she said.

"Why would anyone leave New York?" Casey said as Serena began recounting how she spent her summers on Long Island.

Casey was just about to congratulate herself on getting through an encounter with Serena with most of her pride intact. She surprised herself with having plenty of light topics to cover the time until Alex and Riley had finally returned.

She stood to leave and join her sister, and opened her new summer jacket a bit as she turned to slide her arm into the garment. Serena had to duck a little to avoid being hit.

"Whoa," Riley stopped Casey's arm, "Careful or you're going to end up buying more flowers there, Case," she said, her voice light and teasing.

"Well, that wouldn't be so terrible," Serena said. "They really brightened up my office."

Casey closed her eyes for a moment, forcing herself not to shut them too tightly so no one would notice the grimace. She took a small breath to still herself and recover with a slightly embarrassed smile.

* * *

"Well that was smooth, Romeo," Riley said as they waited for a cab.

"God," Casey said, half muttering. "Liv was right. I do cause jinx-fairies to be born."

Riley gave her a concerned look. "Don't look so pale. It wasn't that bad."

"Right," Casey said. "She only thinks I'm a slight spaz now. And to top it off, the cat's got to be out of the bag now - I totally froze in there."

"It was… I don't think they noticed, really. I'm sure that she just thought you were embarrassed," she said trying to assure.

Casey arranged for a cab and go them going without saying anything else.

"She is really pretty," Riley broke the silence. She bumped her sister's shoulder with her own. "You could have told me you were into her. I would have been on my best behavior."

"I assumed that was your best behavior." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Anyway, there's nothing to tell."

"Right. And it's an everyday occurrence that big, bad, Casey is afraid of a little blond." She smiled. Falling into their old games too easily. Sometimes, provoking her was the only way to keep her from hiding behind her poker face.

"And you wonder why I don't tell you about these things."

"Okay, Okay." Riley said, starting to get a feel for the situation. "So, what? You've just been appreciating her from afar?"

Casey shrugged.

"You little stalker," Riley said.

"Hey. First of all, I'm many, many inches taller than you. And I'm not stalking her. … I just-"

"I make up for it with heels," she interrupted. "And I'm all too familiar with your 'look from afar' infatuations, you useless lesbian."

"She's a colleague. And she's… it's different."

"Then why didn't you ask her to do something?"

"There's no way I'm _ever_ going to do that." She stared out at the city streets.

"Why not?"

"You did see her didn't you?"

Riley glared at her.

"Look, she's just… she's different from anyone who's ever gone out with me."

"Casey Novak," Riley said exasperated. "I know you don't believe it, but you're a great catch."

"In this case I think that's overselling a bit," Casey said. Her sister rolled her eyes, but she stared back. "What? It's the truth. I don't think I'm unattractive, but I am a realist."

"You are so stupid," Riley said.

"Look. It's so easy for you. Even pregnant, men are still falling all over themselves when you're around. They always have. It's different for me. And I like meeting reality head on. No delusions. And as far as harsh realities go, this isn't that bad. I know I'm not a hag. I'm just not you. That makes me stupid?"

"No, it just makes you blind and naive, you defeatist little idiot."

"I have no idea why I need to remind you of this so much, but I am older and bigger than you."

"Listen to me."

Casey rolled her eyes this time.

"Are you listening?"

"Sure," Casey said staring out the car window.

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"You are not either."

"Fine. You're not going to give up until you get your way anyway," Casey turned her head toward her sister. "What?"

"Of course I'm going to get my way. I'm the baby, that's my way. And I also get to play the pregnant card, so hey, extra bitchy baby sister. And you're going to listen to this, because apparently nothing else seems to have gotten through," she took a breath and increased her volume and tapped her sister on the side of the head. "Have some fucking courage and ask the woman out. Things like this? They're usually worth the risk."

"No, thank you. I get my share of adrenaline through my job, I don't need to stress out this much in my free time."

"Look at it this way," Riley smiled. "You've already been out for drinks." Their cab pulled to a stop.

Casey paid for the ride and purposefully didn't help her pregnant sister out of the car.

"Fine," Riley said as she collected the various bags in the doorway to the building. "I'll leave it for now, but we will continue this later."


	7. Chapter 7

**7**

"They were nice," Alex said as they walked away from the bar after one last drink after their impromptu drinking companions had left.

"Yeah," Serena agreed. "They were," she said. It hadn't been as awkward as she had been expecting, automatically imagining the worse at Novak's arrival. She had actually winced. However, small talk filtered through with ease, and Serena had been raised with the expectation of being polished, poised and in control of every situation, small talk being the smallest art of these.

"Casey's sister is pretty. That family has good genes," Alex said.

Serena, still stuck in the mild annoyance she found in the reluctant companion role, gave her a bristling, indignant look and said, "They certainly have that red-haired, green-eyed one."

"Dimples as well," Alex added and with a smirk and a raised brow. What she was so amused about, Serena couldn't quite tell like she would have been able to in the past.

It was not always easy to pinpoint the differences between the new Alex and pre-witness protection Alex, but they were there.

It had been always been easy to see the differences between pre and post-Olivia Alex.

Pre-Olivia Alex's moral compass was highly evolved and very rigid. As were were her dietary standards, her dating standards, her drive, and her career path.

Then came Olivia.

It had been wonderful, as well as entertaining to watch Alex fall in love, to watch her learn to adjust her set ways, to open her mind.

And then she had been ripped away.

At the time, Serena had just getting used to her promotion and was wondering what life would be like if she and Abbie made a permanent commitment. After a few breakups, perhaps the third, she had rather easily fallen back into Abby's graces, with all of her whiskey smooth charm. They had grown into a stable reconciliation after Abbie had settled into her new job at the US Attorney's office.

Their entire relationship, Serena had been waiting for that moment of homeostasis.

But then Alex _died._ Alex died, and Serena fell apart on her brother, not Abbie.

She couldn't have predicted it. That her brother's shoulder would be the one she felt safe crying on. She couldn't have predicted that Abbie would read that as a herald of the end of their relationship, (especially since when Abby's best friend Toni died a year earlier, Abbie had found a safe shoulder to cry on in Jack, not Serena).

Alex would have been able to predict it, old Alex anyway… Sometimes Serena missed the biting snark that her friend had before love and life had softened her. Pre-Olivia Alex would have made fun of Novak with her. Albeit with in that beautiful, first class WASP way of insulting people without actually ever using an insult.

New Alex had her having drinks and playing nice with the woman who had nearly knocked her out with unwieldy flailing.

She couldn't be mad though, she was still too happy to have her back; even with the random moods, and newly intrusive, pushy tendencies.

And Alex may have had a tiny point about Novak. She wasn't that bad, when she was seated, Serena supposed. The ginger women were decent company. She found she had enjoyed talking with them. They were smart, sharp, nice, and…

"The freckles are cute," Alex said, interrupting Serena's reverie with an authoritative finger.

"I suppose," Serena admitted. She nodded in agreement and pondered how to get Alex onto another subject.

Alex looked at her, and gave her that strange, small smile again. Part _I'm always right_ , and part _something_ Serena couldn't quite pin down.

She continued before Serena could chase down the meaning of that facial expression.

"Do you want to take a cab?"

"It's not far now, if you don't mind." Serena said. "I love walking."

"I know you do," Alex said.

Just like that - Alex could cause her to feel the bubbling of affection, and have her suddenly smiling again.


	8. Chapter 8

**8**

Fin looked at the group. It was the sad nature of their work that rough days cycled around often. Sometimes that work left them no choice but to attempt to take care of each other.

"The captain's going to the driving range with his golf buddies," he said. "Munch and I are going for drinks. Anyone want to join us?"

"Nah," Elliot said. "I'm gonna go remind my kids what I look like." With that, he gave them a slight nod and left.

"What about you, Casey?" Fin asked.

Olivia looked up at the redhead. Casey had the same bags under her eyes, and the same look in her eyes, that the rest of them had. Usually she kept herself more closed off than that.

"I don't know, I rode in today," Casey said. She felt like giving into her natural instinct to work off her aggravation with exercise. That and to get home and scrub the miserable, hot day off in a long shower and lose herself in crappy tv. She continued, "If I don't get going soon, traffic will go from bad to _hit the bike on purpose_."

"Come on," Munch said. "I've seen you take apart that thing in less than sixty seconds. We can shove it in his trunk." He pointed with his thumb at Fin.

Fin scowled at him, but agreed. "Yeah, someone has to help me keep my sanity around him."

Casey almost replied with her stock refusal, then paused. Maybe she needed to break some of her patterns. She did feel like she was a little stuck in a rut. It was depressing to think that even though she was a morning person, she hadn't enjoyed mornings in a while. Waking up alone certainly didn't help.

After watching Casey zone out and get quiet, Munch said, "Okay, that's it, you have no choice now, you obviously need to come with us."

"What about you, Benson?" Fin asked.

"Nah, I'm heading home," she said. She received a half nod from Fin, an indulgent roll of the eyes from Munch, and a smirk from Casey.

The redhead turned back to the men flanking her as they started to walk out. "So, you going to buy a girl a drink?" she asked as she patted Fin's shoulder.

Olivia heard Fin's answer before they were out of earshot. "Does that mean I have to pay for John's too?"

* * *

Olivia entered the apartment and let the chilled air envelop her sun-blasted skin. New York was in the uncomfortable throngs of the thick, thick humidity that the hot weather that seemed to bring with it every summer. Olivia had to admit that Alex's insistence on industrial grade air-conditioning was a saving grace.

The even tones of her partner greeted her from the hallway as she kicked off her shoes.

"You in for the night?"

"Hello to you too," Olivia said, a week of long days and chasing down one slippery and frustrating case evident in her voice. Alex walked up, pressing her body to Olivia's. The brunette rested her head on Alex's shoulder, breathing in her scent and placing a kiss where Alex's shoulder met her neck. "And yes. I am home for the night and I am not on call."

Alex pulled back and grabbed Olivia's arm, leading her further into the apartment. "Come on."

"What?" Olivia followed.

"I drew you a bath."

"Oh," Olivia said. "A bath in this heat?"

"It will help you relax."

"Well, thank you." She said. "You planning on joining me?"

Alex slowly smiled. "If you'd like."

She slipped her hands under Olivia's shirt, rubbing the skin on her back for a moment before pulling the shirt over her head. The undressing continued in this manner. A few steps. A soft kiss. More steps, less clothing.

Olivia let herself enjoy the attention. Alex could look at her with such intensity and then smile with such levity that she'd long ago lost any shyness at being watched so closely.

Alex kissed her again as they'd reached the bathroom. She liked kissing Olivia at the end of the day. All of the time really. But at the end of the day, any lipstick would be worn away. If she were wearing perfume it would still be present but only faintly lingering. And there was a relief in these kisses. A sinking into lips and breath and skin that could be deep enough to forget the world, if at least for a few moments.

Olivia got into the tub first. In her opinion, most of the comfort in a hot bath was in having Alex leaning back in her arms. She inhaled the scent of the bath salts, the bubbles and Alex's hair. "Tell me about your day."

Alex's fingers were absently tracing patterns along Olivia's legs. "You'll have your own bureau," she complained, her voice mimicking her boss's deep Southern accent. "He neglected to tell me that my bureau would be made up of mainly baby-ADAs. They whine. A lot."

"You do get to have all the fun, don't you," Olivia said. She pressed a kiss into blond hair.

"I made one of them go and fetch us the good muffins from the bakery you like, though."

"I knew you'd be a natural at being a boss." She rested her head back against the lip of the tub and closed her eyes.

* * *

"So, it was one of those days?"

"Everyone scattered with the wind the second we could."

"How's Casey?"

"Well, at least she isn't required to check in with the department shrink like the rest of us." Olivia cupped the hot water with her hand and let it run over Alex's shoulders and chest. "If she survives going out with Munch and Fin…" Olivia laughed. "Knowing her, she'll probably blow off steam with some insane workout."

"She should have to see a counselor," Alex considered Casey's behavior. "You can't just exercise yourself to sleep forever."

"Well, you try getting her to talk about things out in the open, she says it's like daring the world to rub salt in her wounds."

"The job is going to wear her down."

"I know." Olivia tightened her arms around Alex. "She's getting better though. I mean, she agreed to go out with the guys."

"True." She placed her arms over Olivia's and laced their fingers together. "You should take her to watch that horrible movie you've been trying to make me see."

"I think you're just trying to get out of it," Olivia said.

"It's a possibility," Alex said. "But she'll probably like it better anyway."

* * *

Alex pulled the plug at the bottom of the bathtub and turned on the hot water tap at the same time, prolonging their soak.

"I am almost positive that I have Serena opening her mind up a little bit," Alex said, swirling patterns in the bubbles.

Olivia let her head drop against the back of the tub. "There's no talking you out of this, is there."

"The idea is beginning to breach her subconscious."

"You don't think she'll be irritated when she realizes you're using social engineering on her?"

"I was being subtle."

"And you're known the world over for your subtlety," Olivia said in a tone that revealed a smirk.

That sarcasm earned her a swat on the leg.

"It's good that Casey's cute," Alex said.

"Cute's good, is it?"

"Yes. Cute is good." She smiled deviously. "Cute is dangerous. Cute sneaks up on you."

"Well, your little plans sneak up on me before I realize it, and there's nothing cute about them. She is my friend. She's _our_ very good friend. I don't want to see her hurt." She paused collecting her thoughts. "So many things could go wrong… And you do know that, somehow, _I_ am going to end up with the blame for this."

"What would she blame you for?"

"Oh, I don't know - perhaps any and all fallout."

"You exaggerate."

"You get off scot-free every time you do something like this. I get all the blame."

Alex tilted her head back on Olivia's chest to loot at her innocently. "And you have a problem with this?"

"You enjoy making trouble," she mumbled. "I don't." She led Alex into a kiss anyway. Which Alex deepened until Olivia turned the blond into her lap, splashing water onto the floor. Alex pulled away from Liv to tried to asses how much water needed cleaning up. Until she felt Olivia move again.

Olivia's hands were hot from the water. Their heat trailed a stark sensory path across Alex's body, over her ribs and finally resting on her breasts.

"What about the bath?" she asked as Liv pulled her up and pulled out the stopper.

"What about it?"

"I thought you liked them."

"What I like about baths is the wet, naked _you_ in them."


	9. Chapter 9

**9**

Serena marveled at the productivity boom that she rode all day long. The procedural sludge that usually processed like molasses flew out of her inbox. She filed motions, dived into precedent research, returned and caught up will all calls and emails. And, still, she was left with a restless energy that had taken space within her recently. She didn't usually notice it at work, but she took note of the tight set in her shoulders and the want of her body to move.

She placed a finished report into her out-box and reached for a reference text on the shelf behind three feet behind her desk. When she turned back around she rolled her shoulders and looked up.

Right into Jack's face.

"You're still here?" he said.

She flinched so hard that she nearly knocked her briefcase over. Eyes wide, she took a steadying breath and scowled at him.

"Well, since your apparent attempt to give me a heart attack failed, yes. I am still here."

"I called your name."

"Maybe I'm just ignoring you."

"You've been doing that a lot lately."

"Ignoring you?"

"Working late."

"Just trying to get ahead."

His eyebrows drew together. "I wasn't aware that we were behind," he said. He gave her his knowing little wry smile. "You've also been zoning out."

She glared at him.

"Fine," he amended his statement. "You've been, working to the point of ignoring your surroundings."

"I was just finishing up the paperwork."

"You hate paperwork." He looked over the mass of papers on my desk. Still trying to figure this above and beyond work ethic out. "Trying to free up your weekend?" he asked.

Here eyebrows furrowed together before she could mask her surprise. She had not given one thought to her weekend. Not the entire week. It was highly unusual for her and shocked her more than a little bit. But she was not going to show him that.

Purposely relaxing her posture and expression, she said, "I wanted a nice and easy weekend, so I purposely avoided any plans."

"Well, now that you're all caught up, you could even get out of town if you wanted."

She stared at the neutral, even-tempered scruffy-harmless-older-man expression. The one that she was sure he watched old Columbo episodes to try and match. And she knew that he was going to drop some sort of opinion that she would not like on her.

"Maybe see some old friends," he added.

And there it was. She tried not to clench her hands and ended up clenching her teeth. He didn't push her buttons often. Except for this one. This one he couldn't stay away from.

When she took the job, there had been a mutual, if silent, understanding that they would not talk about Abbie. Especially at work. And he didn't… technically.

But he danced around it like a prima ballerina. Poking in thinly veiled comments whenever it pleased his all knowing, ever so experienced, and advice giving ego. Even though they _rarely_ got along when he did.

It was obvious to anyone where his loyalties lied. His attitude toward Serena could shift from praiseworthy to barely tolerated, and his mood swings coincidentally followed the tide of her on-again, off-again patches with Abbie.

People were supposed to grow out of this kind fair-weather behavior after high school. It was very clear to Serena that he never thought she was good enough for Abbie. But he was happy with her as long as Abbie was happy.

After their last breakup, he outright shook his head at her as if she'd disappointed _him_.

After all, who'd dare let go of the great Abbie Carmichael?

"There's a lot more out there than work, Serena," he said. "Have a good weekend."

She didn't know what she could say to him so she just smiled and gathered up her things.

She organized all her papers, put them away, and mentally ran through the rest of her to-do list for the day.

Pick up food on the way home. Put the new sheets on the bed. The ones just in from her favorite store in her favorite color- the ones she had been saving for a respite from a long day.

She packed up her briefcase as she thought about her king bed, and it hit her how big it was. Especially when she was on her own. It seemed even bigger and emptier when she didn't feel restful either. But at least it would have light and crisp and cool, soft, sheets that she picked out because she didn't have to think of any one else's comfort through the night.

* * *

Midmorning on Saturday Serena jumped at the text-tone from her phone.

'Call me.' From Alex.

Though she had the knee-jerk temptation to text back, she immediately called.

"I totally forgot about that," Alex said loudly. "I can meet you and help you pick something out. And then we can get lunch." And then followed up in what she thought was a whisper with, "You owe me."

Serena laughed to herself at Alex's attempt at a whisper. The woman couldn't do it, her voice was still demanding and controlled and not all that much quieter.

"You know," I said, "You don't really save time by not starting conversations like normal people."

"We still have time," Alex's loud voice was back. "Why don't you come over and we'll head out from here."

"Have you started any new medication that I should know about?"

"Serena," she said in a warning _whisper._

"Care to fill me in on why I suddenly need to go shopping?"

"Well, you need that new dress and I need a new pair of shoes. We can make a few stops and then get a drink."

"If you don't give me a clue as to what's going on I am going to only text you for the rest of the week," Serena said, her tone laced her threat with a petulant snarl knowing that Alex hated text messages.

"Be nice," Alex admonished.

"Give up and get a stronger glasses prescription," she said. Then when a clue filtered through, Serena continued, "What are you trying to get out of?"

"ESPN," she _whispered_ every syllable, slowly.

Serena laughed harder than she had in days.

"It's not funny."

* * *

The look on Olivia's face when she answered the door should have made Serena suspicious. She couldn't quite pinpoint the expression. It was something near- _I should have known_. It only flashed over her features for a moment though, before Olivia replaced it with a grin and amusement in her eyes. When Olivia grinned, when it was genuine, it always looked like trouble.

"Serena," she said. "Come on in. I though Alex was going to meet you in the lobby, but I guess she isn't ready yet. Would you like something to drink?"

"Sure. Whatever you're having."

Olivia tapped the beer bottle she was holding. "Well the current round is hefeweizen with an Earl Grey chaser."

"Pardon?"

She rolled her eyes and shrugged as she handed Serena a beer as she led her into the living room.

"Don't ask me, ask her majesty, queen of the cold hands over there," she said loudly, motioning to near the TV where Novak was sitting on the couch, with a beer in hand and a ceramic mug in front of her on the table.

She looked away from the TV and up at us. Then she did a double take and fumbled returning the beer bottle to the coffee table.

Serena thought she heard faint cursing as Casey stood up to wave hello.

She was wearing a fitted tank top and well-worn jeans. She looked surprisingly good in them. Fit, solidly toned, and more broad shouldered than Serena had noticed before.

However, for how nicely the tank top fitted, it was also luridly purple and nearly clashed with her hair. The corner of her mouth twitched, but Serena was able to keep the smirk off her face. The self-control made her reasonably proud of herself.

The TV announcer made enough noise to gather everyone's attention.

"What are you two watching?"

"College Softball World Series," Casey said.

Serena pursed her lips and blankly looked at both of them.

Olivia shrugged and said, "For reasons unknown to man, Alex has the complete cable sports package. I owed Casey for a movie I dragged her to. It's actually a really good game so far."

"Well, at least it's not football," Serena mumbled.

"Not a big fan of sports?" Olivia asked.

Serena shrugged.

"I thought you were an athlete when you were younger?" Olivia said.

"Tennis, mainly," Serena answered. She narrowed her eyes at Olivia, nearly positive that Olivia already knew that, and wondered what she was playing at. She had played since she could remember; her youth was filled with tennis coaches and private lessons until she was the top of her league. And yet, her father only came to one single match and worked all the way through it. It took her a while, after realizing her motives, to love playing again. It remained excellent stress relief now, though she refused to compete in any competitions at the club.

Olivia had her head skewed to one side, and her smile went crooked, and it started to grow.

Serena couldn't help her competitive streak coming out. "What? Are you finally ready to take me on sometime?"

She hadn't played against Olivia yet. When Alex joined her at the club, it was mainly to humor Alex, as well as to have a little fun. She never _tried_ to demolish the woman, only going really letting loose with her A-game when she needed some one-sided rant time… when her opponent would be too winded to do anything but listen and try to return the ball.

It was very cathartic.

"So," Serena said to Olivia's still smiling face. "You think someone in this household can give me a run for my money?"

"I heard that," Alex called out from the bedroom.

Olivia laughed out loud.

"Pay her no mind," Alex called out again. "If I can beat her, then you know you can."

"Yes, you most certainly can," Olivia answered Alex. She looked back at Serena though, still laughing. "If you're looking for a workout though, you should definitely catch a game with Casey here."

"Shut up," Casey murmured.

Serena looked between the two women. "What am I missing?"

"She aims for the fences," Olivia said, mimicking a home-run swing. "You play with her; you spend a half hour running after air-balls."

"It's not like I try to." Casey sighed.

Serena grinned, putting together the game on tv and logo on her shirt. "The one thing my tennis instructor absolutely forbade me to do was play softball," I said. "He claimed it would mess up my stroke."

"For good reason, it seems," Olivia said. She turned back to Casey, "So I guess you really can't help it." She winked and then looked at me. "Makes sense since she played on this team back in the day," she pointed at the tv.

Casey glowered at her.

"You played Division 1?" Serena said. "That's impressive."

She shrugged and gave a quick smile. "The scholarship payed for college. And for that, I will remain forever faithful."

Serena found herself smiling at the loyalty.

* * *

Serena watched Alex kiss the top of Olivia's head, and pat Casey's as they left.

Halfway down the elevator ride, curiosity got the best of her. "How did those two end up thick as thieves?" Serena asked.

"Olivia will tell you that they she warmed to her when they couldn't get a perp for rape so Casey found a way to put the guy away for money laundering, wire fraud and conspiracy for an even longer sentence."

Serena laughed. "By any means necessary."

"Casey would tell you that she didn't bother trying to make friends at SVU," Alex said.

"You mean, not trying to take your place?" Serena asked, incredulous tone. "I wouldn't have bothered trying either. That must have been a rough start."

"By all accounts, it was. But, after a few cases, she was eventually invited bar with the squad. At the end of the night, she kept Liv company. But didn't pry. Didn't ask why Liv was upset. Just sat with her. Let her be. They did that a few times. Eventually, they started talking."

She looked up at me and smiled. "They're a good for each other. Though they like to prank each other sometimes. And I'm not sure how I feel about that."

Serena smiled, enjoying the happiness in her friend's tone.

"She's a good friend. It just takes a bit to get to know her," Alex said.

"I'm glad she was there for her," she said. She still felt guilty that she hadn't checked in on Olivia often enough in the aftermath. "Anyway, how is your party planning going?"

"Everything's set up."

"Aww, Alexandra," Serena said. She theatrically sniffed and placed her hand over her chest. "Look at you, all grown up and throwing your first summer party in the Hamptons."

"I know, I know," Alex said. She shook her head, "When did we turn into our mothers?" She smiled. "Which is exactly is why I'm calling it a _beach party_."

Then she sighed and took and audibly deep breath. "Speaking of the party," she said, "Abbie called to let me know she can't make it."

"You know," Serena said, her voice raising, "I'm a big girl, Alex. It's been a long time, and I'm over it. I can be in the same room with her you know."

"I know, but now you don't have to be," she said, returning some of the attitude that she had been receiving. "I was just telling you so you wouldn't have to be worried about it."

"I wasn't."

Serena kicked at a rock on the ground. She looked at her friend. The one that Abbie complained to this day that Serena got in the breakup, like she was an asset up for non-equitable division.

"It's not like we were married Alex," Serena said. "We've been officially over for a long time."

"And unofficially…" She let that die. "It hasn't been all that long."

Serena smirked, trying to keep the mood from going too dar. "Well, it certainly feels like it. I am over it, you know. I am just fine. Abbie can come, not come, bring a new fling, hell, a husband or wife. I don't care."

"And I'm just looking out for you."

Serena wasn't quite proud of the dramatic sigh she let out. "I know," she said.


	10. Chapter 10

**10**

Alex and Serena returned to the apartment with several more bags than a fake shopping trip should have garnered.

Olivia's eyebrows furrowed as she perused the purchases from her vantage point in the kitchen. She shook her head and smiled and bit her lip to contain her laughter.

Serena grinned and shared a look with Alex as she passed by the couple's silent conversation to sort through the shopping at the table the next room over.

"What are you doing?" Alex as she watched Olivia open another beer.

"Why do I feel like this is a loaded question?" she smiled innocently at Alex.

"Why aren't you changed?"

"Into what?"

"For the thing tonight," Alex said.

"We have a thing tonight?"

"Dinner with my uncle," Alex continued. She tried strong-arming her with a look.

Olivia raised both eyebrows.

"What day is it Olivia?" Alex asked with a leading tone.

"Saturday." Olivia refrained from resisting Alex's insistence any further. "And… We have dinner with your uncle on Saturday. I'll go change."

Alex followed Olivia into their bedroom. "I'm going to start getting ready. Let Casey and Serena know I've called for a cab," she said.

"We're getting ready for an imaginary dinner so that Casey and Serena can share a cab?" Olivia said, disbelief evident even in her whispered tone. She tried not to roll her eyes.

"No. We're _actually_ going to dinner with my uncle, and now you get to go out there and get them to share a cab."

"Why would they share?"

"Because they're leaving at the same time and are going in the same direction."

Olivia rolled her eyes a little. "You do know there is a fine line between taking advantage of a situation and pushing it."

Alex fixed her with a look that Olivia did not like seeing outside of a courtroom.

"I'm changing, I'm changing," Olivia said. Exchanging her jeans for a pair of form fitting slacks that she knew Alex was fond of on her, hoping to assuage the annoyance at her reluctance.

* * *

Olivia returned to the living room to see Casey tidying up the evidence of their game snacks and saw Serena checking something on her phone and gathering her bags to leave.

"Sorry to run out on you," she said, walking over toward Serena. "I completely forgot about a family dinner. But at least there's a cab waiting for you to share." Right after she said it, it hit Olivia, that she meant it. She had referred to the dinner with Alex's uncle as a family event. And it was really starting to feel like it too. For unfathomable reasons, Alex's mother had always liked Olivia, and the rest of the Cabots seemed to fall into the same line.

"Why do we need to share a cab?" Serena said, shaking Olivia out of her reverie.

"Uh," Olivia nearly shook her head to remember what they were talking about. "You both live in the same direction. Is there a problem?"

"I," Serena said, searching for an excuse, but Olivia had her stumped. "No, there's no problem."

"Good, I'll let the doorman know you're coming." Olivia turned away from her and grimaced as she headed toward Casey, knowing that her role in this was now set.

* * *

Casey willed the elevator to go faster. She was beginning to think that any nerves she had for controlling embarrassment were destined to fail every time she was around this woman.

In fact, sadly, it was like any other day around the blonde. The more Casey tried to suppress her awkwardness, and especially her bad luck- the worse those things would get.

She took a long, deep, slow breath trying to calm down as they arrived in front of the building and smiled at the more than welcome temperature change. Evening was starting to fall and the city was flooded with clear, wonderfully cooler air. That in and of itself made her feel better.

"It finally cooled off," she said. "It was like walking through soup this morning."

Serena nodded. "Yeah, it's almost a shame to take a cab."

"You're right," Casey agreed. She thought about how nice it would be to stretch out her legs a bit, enjoy the brief bits of nice weather in summer - as well as the relief from the pressure of sharing a cab. "I think I'm going to walk."

"Hmm," Serena said, "That sounds good. Maybe I should too."

Casey couldn't cool the expression of surprise on her face, but she recovered faster than she could have hoped and motioned in the direction that they were facing. When Serena nodded in agreement, Casey reached out and gently took the larger gathering of bags from Serena's hands. "Can I help even the load for you?" she said, a beat too late.

Serena raised her eyebrow at the chivalry and Casey's stomach dropped. In an instant she was 12 years old again, in line for the impossibly huge roller coaster her sisters dragged her on- the one so large that the wind it created whipped her hair about her face as she was staring up at it.

Her eye twitched and she was afraid to look at Serena to see the rest of her expression. When she did, the blond looked a little chagrined at having an escort home. One who had taken over carrying her bags without asking. One that she would have to have an actual conversation with.

They started down the streets filling with people headed out for the evening, called forth by the nice weather.

"So," Serena she said, breaking the silence building up between them. She drew out the syllable a bit sounding like she wasn't exactly sure where to pick up a conversation at since they'd already addressed the weather. "How's your caseload?"

"It's manageable for the moment. And at least I haven't been called in yet tonight."

Serena smirked. "You do know that saying those kinds of things out loud will only cause work to call."

Casey attempted an innocent affect. "I said nothing. You heard nothing."

Serena laughed a bit, and looked around as if searching for something to say. "Do you usually follow beer with tea?"

Casey rolled her eyes, one of these days she would have to kill Olivia. "As much as Olivia likes to make fun of me for it… No." She smiled sheepishly. "Beer is the obligatory baseball/softball drink of choice, of course."

"Of course," Serena agreed.

"But, my hands get cold easily and with how cold Alex keeps their place… anyway, if I drank coffee every time I wanted to, or every time I was cold, I'd be unbearably," she scrunched her nose, "hyper. Hence the tea."

"I know what you mean, if I could drink as much coffee as I wanted…." Serena let out a little laugh, "I already drink too much." She laughed again as the realization hit her, "I think I developed a taste for it when I was ten."

Casey smiled. "Ten?"

"My father likes his coffee with lots of cream and sugar. He'd always let me have the last sip after it had gotten cold."

"That's really sweet," Casey said. Her smile grew bigger, her eyes lit up imagining a ten year old Serena, and the smile lines in her cheeks brought out her dimples in full.

It was the kind of smile that made you smile back in reflex, Serena thought. "Well," she said. "As sweet as getting your child hooked on coffee can be."

"Keep it up and I'm going to have no choice but to stop and get some."

"You're that suggestible?"

"About coffee I am."

Serena laughed that great surprised laugh she was capable of, and Casey felt it deep in her stomach.

"Well then," Serena said. "There's a great place up on the next block. Who am I to get in the way of the enduring allure of caffeine."

* * *

Conversation became easier after getting coffee, somehow making it necessary to walk a little bit more slowly, and enjoy the evening. Topics wandered harmlessly from work to personal, and back again. Serena talked about working with Jack. Casey told Serena about her experiences clerking.

"She really made you take an acting class?"

"Yes," Casey said. She hung her head and laughed a little at the memory. "She said I didn't need help with writing or research, but that I needed to learn to control my reactions and facial expressions."

"That is… honest."

"It's one of the things I really like about her."

"So, did it help?"

"Probably more than I want to admit," she shrugged. "I mean, I'm under no impression that I'm great at it now, but I used to be a whole lot worse at shielding my reactions." Casey said, in a very resigned tone. "But she did also let me sit in court every spare moment."

"Well," Serena said, "She was tougher than the judge I clerked for. And she always found something for me to do, whether it was work or making tea or reserving golf times."

"I guess I was lucky. Judge Clark really pushed me to get ahead. She introduced me around at different events, things like that. So, even if I had some really long days, I didn't mind."

She smiled as another natural pause in conversation came up. While they were getting less frequent, they were also becoming less awkward.

"This is nice," Casey said.

Serena looked over at Casey, wondering where she was going with this. But then again, she was starting to learn that she shouldn't jump to conclusions where Casey was concerned. She settled for a raising a questioning eyebrow.

Casey shrugged, "I just realized that it's the weekend and I'm not at work, it's nice out, and I'm not exhausted."

"I know what you mean," Serena said. She looked over and smiled, causing a distracted Casey to stumble slightly.

Serena looked back at the _nearly_ non-existent crack in the sidewalk and smiled again. Her chest shaking with the battle of fighting a giggle.

"Yes, well, the seems in the concrete will get you every time." Casey said, shaking her head slightly.

"The streets of NY are indeed very dangerous," Serena said in fake solemnity.

Casey's response was cut short as she nearly stumbled a second time, startled by her phone as it vibrated in her pocket. She sighed as she looked at the ID read out. "I really should learn to avoid saying things out loud about not working. Excuse me."

She stepped to the side for just a moment, returning as she closed her cell phone, a grim expression on her face.

"You have to go in?"

"Yeah, a warrant," Casey answered, looking up and down the street for signs of a cab.

"We're two blocks from my building. Come on, it'll be easier to catch a cab out front."

They arrived shortly and stood only a bit awkwardly, facing each other. "Well, thanks for the walk," Serena said, taking the bags that Casey was holding.

"My pleasure."

"Good thing we got that coffee."

She was rewarded with a shy smile and a slight blush as Casey said, "The caffeine is definitely going to be needed, so thank you," she said and waved before getting into a cab.


	11. Chapter 11

**11**

The Sunday bicycle ride had seemed like a good idea at the time.

Serena sighed as she pushed her bike, ever so slowly up yet another hill, the sweat trickling down the small of her back as she cursed herself yet again.

Actually, when she thought about it, it had really been Olivia's idea. She'd dropped in on a conversation between her and Alex about trying yet another new gym class, and had suggested a change in workout routines to get them both outside more in summer. Now all she wanted to do was run over Olivia's foot with her flat tire.

She had to admit, the morning had been rather enjoyable. The morning sun was gentle, the route was simple enough until her bike turned against her. Halfway through the _long_ course. Serena wiped at the beading trickles of sweat across her forehead and brushed the damp, stray hairs back behind her ears.

She could hear her father's flat, high-handed, voice in her head, lecturing on and on about taking care of her possessions, and about preparedness. He loved to have and show the finer things in life, but also pushed the ideals of taking care and keeping track of your things with relentless zeal. However, she could not imagine how a flat tire was her fault.

She'd gotten up early for once. She'd backed up her computer and her phone. Checked her email. Paid her bills. Went to the farmer's market. Cleaned out the fridge of leftovers. She even put away her dry cleaning.

It had still still been sunny, warm, humid, and so bright that it seemed dim inside the apartment. She hadn't felt like going out, and it was too early for dinner. But she hadn't felt like being cooped up and sitting still either.

She had looked over at her bicycle on it's stand on the utility side of her laundry room and suddenly Olivia's biking route in the park didn't sound like such a bad idea. She'd hoped that it would help rid her of this recent bout of restlessness. She had been looking for a respite from too many hours with nothing to do but think and getting outdoors could help her reset from her job - or at least that's what she told herself.

* * *

The loops in Central Park were probably the most popular bike trails in Manhattan. Anyone can go along at pretty much whatever speed they want. Olivia claimed it was friendly and safe because there were plenty of other riders and yet it never felt overcrowded, but there were plenty of park police too.

Walking her bike felt a little bit less safe than riding, though. She was off to the side of the trail, watching everyone go by. The ones going at ridiculous speed, the ones barely going faster than a walking pace, the ones trying to keep up with their dogs. Occasionally, she only felt the breeze of someone coming by so fast and so close on the bling curves that she worried about getting clipped.

Her people watching was cut off though, when one rider passed her and then veered to the side of the road, causing a few other riders behind her to swerve.

She noticed a visibly red ponytail sticking out of the back of a lime green bike helmet.

Serena stared a little harder as she felt that there was no way it could be who she thought it was. She did a double take to make sure, because she did feel like she was seeing Casey everywhere lately, even though the last time they had talked was over a week ago.

The rider dismounted, and stumbled a bit in doing so, as a shoe-clip seemed to refuse to let go of the pedal. Serena decided that this confirmed it for her, even before she could see her face. It had to be Casey.

To Serena's delight, she was right, and as Casey grew closer, she could hear the woman muttering to herself in obvious consternation, possibly even cursing.

"Serena?"

Serena gave her a short little wave.

As Casey took her helmet off, Serena was hit with immense feelings of unfairness. She knew that she looked tired, sweaty, haggard, and she highly doubted that her hair was in any kind of order.

Casey looked like a perfectly kempt, composed, professional fitness instructor (the ones who never seemed to break a sweat as they kept lying to their clients as to how many more reps they had left to do).

Serena took her in and was surprised again at just how much different the woman looked with her hair back and in workout gear, than she did at work. Her face was so much more open, and you could see how much younger and more freckled she was without makeup.

She came closer, looking at Serena's bike, trying to assess the problem. "Flat tire?"

"Actually, I just like to over-inflate the other one," Serena answered, smiling to lighten the sarcasm. "I'm fond of forced perspective."

Casey laughed, even though most of her attention was still focused on the tire.

"You need a patch kit?" She was already taking off the small gear bag strategically nestled under her bicycle seat.

"I was just going to take it to the shop near my building."

"Haven't you ever fixed a flat?" Her tone was curious and not condescending as it easily could have been, and probably would have been from others in her situation.

"Maybe once, around the time when I was eleven."

"Well, I can do it for you," she said, looking at the ground.

"That's not necessary. I can really take it to the shop."

"It's no problem." Casey smiled and it lit up her face.

Serena didn't know if she'd ever seen her smile quite like that before.

"It'll just take a second," she said.

And it was like a switch got flipped on. Casey's posture immediately transformed and became relaxed. She turned the bike upside down, fished in her little bag, pulled out a set of tiny tools and grabbed a very slim pump that was strapped to her bike frame.

In a flash, she had the tire off the bike, and shimmied the tube free.

She was so efficient that Serena found herself enjoying sitting on the grass just watching.

She felt the strangeness of it all hover somewhere around her awareness. She didn't think she'd accept the offer of help from anyone else, but there was something nice about letting Casey help her.

* * *

Casey got the tire back on and spun it. She flipped the bike back onto its tires and put pressure on the handlebars enough to make it bob a little. She nodded to herself, apparently satisfied, and started placing her tools back in precise order in the compact kit.

She finally looked up at Serena again.

"Nice components," she said.

Serena bit her lip to stifle the laughter at what could easily be innuendo. Her pressed her lips together to prevent herself from giving a knee-jerk entendre-laced, if sarcastic, response to mess with her.

Not sure what to say, she gave in and settled for, "Okay." But she couldn't help but punctuated it with one raised brow and a tone that said _'Well, I haven't heard that line before.'_

Casey dropped the bike pump on her foot.

"I uh," she stammered.

Serena was more amused that she could have imagined, but very proud of herself for not laughing.

Recovering, Casey cleared her throat and continued. "Your drive-train, derailer, and brakes are really good, solid brands." She pointed them out as she talked and then busied herself by strapping the pump back to her bike.

Casey was actually blushing, and Serena realized that she was definitely having fun now.

"Is your fork adjustable?" Casey continued.

She finally let go a small laugh. "I have no idea," Serena said. "I inherited this very nice bike from my brother when he realized that mountain biking was real exercise and not just coasting down a mountain."

Casey laughed again. When she laughed, her face lit up and dimples came out - they only adding to the fresh, healthy, young and honest look.

Serena smiled back.

Casey turned her eyes back away from her and inspected the bike again.

"I'm pretty sure it is," she scratched her head. "Your fork is a little soft, if you find it too bouncy when you ride, you can have a bike mechanic adjust the pressure, and make it less bouncy."

Casey paused and looked at her. "For flat terrain like this, it's sometimes better to have less, bounce… it would be smoother for you, better for speed."

"Okay," Serena said slowly with a half-smile and a nod to acknowledge her understanding. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Well, anyway," Casey said. "All fixed." She leaned the bike toward her and let Serena grab it.

"Thank you." Serena said and smiled genuinely, realizing that she no longer had to walk back and would be able to get home before it got too dark.

Just as she was realizing that she should thank her somehow, Casey was starting to leave.

"Wait," Serena said. "Let me buy you a drink for your trouble." She pointed toward a food cart that had water and sports drinks visibly cooling in chests of ice.

"That's okay," she said and pointed to a drink strapped in a cage on her bike.

"Or," Serena shrugged looking over at the other cart. "How about something more fun," she said, and took few steps in that direction. "Could I offer you a bomb-pop for your services?"

Casey grinned and it lit up her entire face again. "Actually, yeah," she said. "A bomb-pop sounds great."

They sat on the grass and ate their popsicles, enjoying the sun shining down on them, and talking about summer camps from childhood, and what they liked to do in the park, and the other park goers as they fended off mosquitos and sunburns.

By the time Casey's fingers were stained, and her lips held a hint of blue, they realized that the sun was now casting late afternoon shadows and they'd have to get home sooner than later to avoid the dark.

Finally, Casey started walking backwards toward the trail with her bike. "Thank you for the popsicle."

"Thank you for fixing my tire."

"I guess I'll be seeing you soon," Casey said, and then hurriedly added, "next week at Alex's party."

"Yeah, I'll see you there," Serena said. "Thanks again."

Casey was waving goodbye when another cyclist yelled and had to veer almost to the point of crashing because she'd walked too far backward onto the trail.

She closed her eyes, grimacing and forced a tight smile.

Serena laughed at Casey's antics as she put her own bike helmet back on and tried to psych herself up enough for the ride back home when a stray thought sat firmly in her consciousness. Sometime in the last few weeks, she had become _Casey,_ instead of _Novak._ And for the life of her, she couldn't pinpoint when.


	12. Chapter 12

**12**

Olivia swore that, at times, Alex even managed to orchestrate the weather. The Hamptons had dutifully supplied sunshine, puffy white clouds, and a slightly cool breeze running through the grasses off the shoreline.

She stepped out onto the large wraparound deck overlooking the beach and ocean at the Cabot summer home. She didn't know if Alex was starting to enjoy herself, or if it was just being back at the family refuge she loved so much- but she could see the stress melt away from her.

She looked absolutely stunning, leaning on the deck railing looking out at the ocean with her hair gently blowing in the wind and the sun shining on her face. Olivia pulled out her phone to capture the image she wanted to keep. Always. And to remember that exact moment, when that word stopped sounding intimidating and started sounding perfect.

Olivia sidled up next to her, enjoying the warmth where their shoulders and arms touched. She took a set of keys out of her pocket and jingled them.

"Mission accomplished."

"Well, I didn't think it would be too hard, you were pouring rather heavy drinks all afternoon," Alex said. "Plus we have very nice guest rooms."

"She argues for a living, but no," Olivia said. "It wasn't too hard to get her to stay. I'm surprised you didn't plot to have Serena drive Casey up here instead of me."

Alex tilted her head in consideration. "I couldn't figure out a way to do it without arousing too much suspicion." She furrowed her brow but shook it off quick enough. "I do know that they'll drive home together _tomorrow_ ," Alex said and took Serena's keys from Olivia and jingled them.

"You banked on the presumption that I'm a heavy handed bartender, or that Serena drinks like a lawyer?" Olivia laughed.

Alex smiled and Olivia shook her head at her partner's scheming.

She looked back toward the kitchen at the tidied remains the caterers were stowing in the refrigerator. "We're going to have a lot of leftovers."

"You can take them to the precinct in the morning."

"In the morning?" Olivia nearly pouted and rested her head on Alex's shoulder.

"Just early enough to beat traffic and so that Casey has to seek out another ride home."

Olivia sighed. "What are you going to do with yourself if you get your way."

"My friend Kelly could use a new companion to take to events."

"Kelly Gaffney, from the homicide bureau?"

Alex smiled, a little deviously.

Olivia shook her head. "Just don't hide behind me when that boss of hers blows a gasket. Everyone knows they have a thing for each other."

"Well, it seems Tracy Kibre won't make her move because she's afraid of getting a reputation. So its her loss. Even Jack McCoy never let a thing like that stop him."

"You are a dangerous woman."

"You knew that when we met."

"That I did," Olivia said. She smiled and placed a small kiss on her cheek. "Have you been enjoying your party?"

"I don't think this is quite my mother's idea of a summer party."

"You know, I think she would actually like this better." Olivia said as she looked around at the people gathered deck and spilling out on the beach. "You not only know everyone here, you actually like everyone here."

"One of my mother's parties would have been better for my career."

"Reconnecting with your friends is much better than stodgy socialites and mouth-breathing politicians."

Alex looked at her.

"You're mother's words, not mine. And you have time for all of that, if it's what you want. Later."

"I know," Alex said. "It's probably better for me this way. Everything is moving so fast, if I sit still and think about it, it all seems daunting."

"You're doing amazing. I've heard that when people reenter their lives, they do all kinds of crazy things."

"You should stop talking to the Marshall in charge of my case."

Olivia smiled. "She throws me an email now and again. Checking on you. Trying to recruit me to the service, and she's not surprised in the least that you've suddenly turned into a yenta. But she warned me to keep her off of your list."

Alex rolled her eyes for an answer.

"You don't feel like _we've_ jumped back into this too fast, do you?" Olivia said after a beat. "Already living together, throwing parties…"

Alex gave her a reassuring smile in return. "I feel more like myself around you than anywhere else. I'll worry about what that means another time."

Olivia moved to hug Alex from behind and placed her head on Alex's shoulder. She looked up and peered forward when Alex started pointing.

Down on the beach, near the reeds, Casey had caught a firefly in her hands and was showing it to Serena. Olivia sighed and said, "You're going to be impossible to live with after this, aren't you?"

"You have to learn to accept that I'm always right."


	13. Chapter 13

**13**

Serena woke up with just a little bit of hate in her heart. Hatred of the part of herself that liked parties a little too much and never, ever, planned for a hangover. That, and she also _hated_ whoever turned on the light.

"Turn off the light," she groaned.

"It's the sun." A voice answered from off to the side. A voice that she recognized.

She couldn't tell exactly where Casey was, just that she was close. She ran through the memories of last night to try and place everything. It was late, Olivia had strong-armed them into not driving. She stayed up listening to the ocean and talking the night away with Casey since Alex and Olivia had snuck upstairs once everything was cleaned up. They must have fallen asleep downstairs.

She lifted her head to peek around and confirm. She saw Casey lying on the couch across from her, eyes still closed. She didn't know why either of them didn't retreat up to Alex's obscenely comfortable guest beds.

The Cabots always threw amazing parties. They always made their guests feel welcomed and cared for and comfortable. It was nice to enjoy herself after a week of seeing to so many details and being the keeper of plans.

Serena's head complained about being in it's new position for too long, the pain returned, the bright light wasn't helping anything either.

"Make it go away," she said, almost a whine, before she heard herself and realized that she wasn't censoring what she was saying. She didn't think it was possible to still be inebriated, but still.

There was a faint rustling. And definite shuffling.

There was silence for a minute or two and then the room got darker.

"You made it go away," she said, her voice was full of headache-laced wonder. She definitely needed some coffee. Preferably before she said anything more. "Thank you."

"Yes, me and Cabot's super-powered blackout drapes," Casey said and touched Serena's shoulder. "Here, Alex was up, this is all she had for a headache," she said, handing her a couple of pills and a glass of water.

"Coffee," Serena groaned. "I need coffee." But she took the pills and water anyway.

"Okay," Casey said, her voice clearly amused. "I'll go see what I can do."

Great, Serena thought, not sure how she ended up sending Casey to wait on her, hand and foot. A hoard of new images filled her mind. Not sure that she was ready for them, she decided to try drag her ass up and join the land of the upright.

Later on, while she was still finishing her breakfast in the kitchen with Alex, Casey came in looking for Olivia.

"She's catching cases later today so she already left," Alex said and automatically poured Casey a cup when she saw the redhead enter the kitchen.

"Damn." Casey's hands went to her hips. "Why didn't she come get me. She knew I had to get back to Manhattan. We have a game."

"I'm sorry," Alex said, handing her the coffee to mollify her. Then she pointedly looked at Serena.

'What?' Serena mouthed back to her.

She motioned at Casey who was busy mainlining the coffee.

She stared at Alex, with a wide-eyed look that said 'what are you doing?.'

Alex only stared back at her with a courtroom face in response.

Serena tried not to sigh out loud. But after a second or two she gave in. "I can take you."

Casey stopped her pacing and put her empty coffee mug down. She looked at her for a moment, evaluating the genuineness of the offer. Then she looked at her watch again, frowning. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's not a problem." She smiled at the reticence. "I have to get back today too."

"If you really wouldn't mind," Casey said and continued fidgeting. "I wouldn't even think of asking… but I'm the coach, so I really should be there."

"You coach what? Softball? Like, for kids?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "Well, teenagers really."

"That's-"

"Really community minded of you," Alex saved her.

"I've had some bad coaches and then some great ones. I just wanted to help make it fun… Anyway." Casey looked back at me. The look on her face. It was so… tentative and apologetic.

"Really," Serena said. "I can take you. It's not a problem."

"Let her take you, Casey," Alex chimed in. "Or your kids will take away your favorite coach award," she snickered.

"What about your headache?" Casey asked.

She was really quite sweet, she thought.

"It's better now." Serena nodded towards the door and fished out my keys from her purse. "Let's get you to your game, Coach."

"So, is it straight to the fields, or do you want to make a stop first?" Serena asked her as she started the car.

Casey looked back down at the outfit she had worn to the party, and then at her watch, and then at her outfit again. Her facial expressions tell entire stories and it was completely endearing.

"I suppose we should stop at my building. The assistant coach is bringing the equipment, but I'd better get my stuff. It's on the way."

They made a quick stop in front of her building so she could pick up her bag. Casey flew into the building and came back out nearly as quickly.

"That was fast," she said. "I certainly didn't have to worry about being double parked."

Casey sort of smiled and shrugged and said, "I'm very practiced at it. At least I didn't have to change in the car."

Serena laughed. "I do not remember the last time I had to change my clothes in a car."

"Yeah, well," she said. "I guess I'm a little old for it, but I'm used to it." She shrugged. "I had to do it more times than I can remember…when locker rooms weren't available or when I was running late… I've had to change in cars, team busses, elevators, bathrooms..."

"Elevators?" Serena's voice went up quite a bit in amusement.

Casey blushed and smiled that little bashful smile of hers. "It's not like it sounds."

"How could it not be like it sounds?" Serena said, laughing.

"It was more private than you'd think," she defended.

Serena laughed again and resorted to what was becoming her standard amusement-laced answer to Casey. "Okay."

Casey tried to hide her blush by pulling out sunscreen from her bag. "Do you mind if I put this on? I won't touch anything."

"Of course not," she said.

It was the muscles on Casey's arms, as she smoothed the lotion over them, that caught Serena's eye. She told herself that she wasn't trying to watch and returned her gaze to the road.

But traffic was slow, and really wasn't distracting her from the fact that Casey on some pretty short, fitted shorts showing off really long legs.

She also couldn't help but notice that they were also were very tone and muscular.

She shook her head to refocus on the drive.

The scent of the cocoa butter in the sunblock, combined with the bright sunshine, made her smile as summer attacked all of her senses, and made her feel a little adolescent sneaking glances at stoplights.

Casey finished applying even more of the sunblock to her face as they pulled into a large complex of ball fields. "The sun does not agree with me." She said, finally noticing the staring. She gave that little self-effacing smile of hers. "I only have two skin settings: burn or freckle. It's not a hard choice."

Serena smiled back. "Would you… do you need a ride home?"

Casey shook her head a little. "Oh, no, you've gone out of your way enough. I can catch a ride home with Billy."

Serena found herself surprised that she was a little disappointed, having had a really good time so far.

Casey looked over at the field where a dozen or so teenage girls were stretching in a circle and then looked back down at her watch. "Shit," she whispered.

"I thought we made good time," Serena said, throwing in a little shrug and an apologetic smile.

Casey smiled back at me. "We made great time. I just should have gotten up earlier. Or gotten up off my butt and gone home last night… but…"

"But Olivia makes strong drinks and Alex always gets what she wants?"

She laughed softly, "Something like that." She smiled at Serena again.

Somewhere in her head Serena heard an 'uh-oh', because, she looked at that full, soft smile with the dimples, and knew that she could get used to that. Easily.

"I'd better go before they make me run," she said as she started shifting to make sure she had all of her things together.

"Make _you_ run?"

"An extra lap for every minute late."

"But you're the coach."

She shrugged a little. "I've always told them that the rules apply to everyone."

Serena again, appreciated Casey's nature. She was who she said she was. And Serena couldn't believe how appealing that was starting to be.

Just before she got out of the car, her voice called out. "Casey."

She turned and looked.

Serena wasn't sure that she meant to stop her, but then again, she wasn't sure why she called out her name anyway. Except that she didn't want the drive to end.

Casey had a white smudge of sun block on her cheek that hadn't been rubbed in. Serena grinned and reached for her cheek and slowly smoothes out the leftover lotion with her thumb, resulting in her palm nearly cupping her cheek and jaw.

"You missed some," she said softly by way of unnecessary explanation.

She felt Casey's lip give a faint quiver. The air in the car became still and it was so quiet while they were just staring at each other.

Then a loud and nearly screaming adolescent voice carried through the window.

"Coach Casey, you're three minutes late!"

Serena dropped her hand and mouthed 'I'm sorry' at Casey, and tried not to giggle.

"I have to go," she said.

"Have a good game."

She shut the door and walked quickly to meet the circle of girls who start to chant the word, 'laps, laps, laps!'

She heard Casey reply to them before she started the car to drive home. "Okay you tyrants, Coach Billy will start your drills while I run."

Casey gave her a little goodbye wave as she made her way around the field.

Serena shook her head as she pulled into traffic once again. She was seconds away from kissing Casey Novak.

And they both knew it.


	14. Chapter 14

**14**

Olivia walked into Casey's office and handed her a report and a plastic bag. The demands of the ADA's office often called for the detectives to deliver certain reports at late hours, but rarely had Casey asked for anything for herself.

"Okay, I can understand needing the report," Olivia said. "But what on earth do you want the superglue for?"

"For this," Casey said, and pulled out the broken coffee mug from one of her desk drawers.

"You're going to glue it back together? Don't you think that thing has caused enough problems?"

"It's my lucky charm. And it's only in like, three pieces."

Olivia looked at her like she was sprouting horns. "Do you want to think about what you just said for a minute?"

"Ha, ha." Casey said as she leafed through the case files that Olivia had brought with her. She set them aside and cleared some desk space for the mug and glue.

"So," Olivia started, drawing the syllable out as she watched Casey try to ignore her. "How was the ride back to Manhattan?"

"Traffic was good."

"Uh huh," she drew out the syllables and continued eyeing her.

"I don't know what you're getting at."

"Really?" Olivia said. "Because, I understand it went well."

"What did you hear?" Casey quickly looked up at Olivia.

"Oh, it's not so much what I've heard but what I'm inferring - from your behavior in interrogation today."

"I thought you were on a stakeout with Elliot."

"I was; Munch filled me in."

"On what? We had a good day, a confession, two pleas and a new witness. But all that means for me is a lot of paperwork."

"Yeah, I heard. Munch and Fin are still talking about it. Well, Fin is talking about it, Munch just starts to giggle."

"Because we got all that in one day?"

"Because apparently you couldn't stop smiling, and when you tried to stop smiling - well according to Munch, it made you looked sinister enough to scare the perps."

Casey rolled her eyes. And tried to suppress a smile.

"So, put two and two together and I'd guess that your ride back home went well."

"It went, fine," she said. Finally she sighed and smiled and said, "It was nice… I don't know what you want me to say… nothing happened."

"Do I hear a 'but' in there somewhere," Olivia said.

Casey shrugged.

"Come on, you don't have room to play ignorant here."

"I'm not… It was fine. We just talked, and… it's just that…," Casey faltered and then sat heavily back into her chair with a loud expelled breath.

"It's just that she makes you really nervous." Olivia stood there grinning. "You're scared of Serena."

"You sound like my sister. And why is everyone so interested in my love life, or lack there of, lately?"

"Your mother has us on her payroll."

"That's not funny," Casey said. "My mother treats meddling in my love life as an Olympic event."

Olivia laughed at the glare that Casey threw her way. "You should go talk to Serena and ask her out. I think she's still here."

"Yes, because it's that easy."

"You're making it harder than it needs to be. Just talk to her."

Casey sighed. "Fine."

"Really?"

"Maybe... God knows I need to get this over with sometime."

"Good. So you're okay with this?" Olivia asked.

Casey didn't answer her.

"I guess it's too late to ask you if you want me to back off."

"I'm not a complete idiot… I could see what you were doing. It took me a minute to figure out why you ditched me at the party."

Olivia only smirked. She watched Casey dutifully read the instructions on the back of the glue's package.

"It's superglue. It's not rocket science."

Casey rolled her eyes.

"Quit stalling, you have a better chance than you think."

"Yes, because she's suddenly into pasty," she said. "And klutzy," she waved the piece of coffee mug that she was trying to glue back together.

"Casey." Olivia admonished her. "Trust me."

"There are just so many things I don't know, like if she's officially out at work, or even if she's available for crying out loud, and most of all I don't even if she likes me."

"I think it's safe to say that she likes you."

"Fine…"

"You're going to talk to her."

"Maybe."

"Tonight."

"Fine, tonight. After I fix this. Now get out of here so I can concentrate."

* * *

Serena looked up to see Casey pacing in the hall in front of her office.

"Casey," she called out. "Make a ninety degree turn one of these times and you'll actually make it in here."

"Hi," Casey said. She seemed to come to a decision and offered a quick smile coming into the room, hands held behind her back. "Do you," she started, "happen to have any nail polish remover?"

"Nail polish remover?" Serena had to admit, she did not see that coming.

Casey merely nodded.

"Actually," she said. "I think I do have some in a nail kit." She turned to her stash drawer. She felt it paid to be prepared in this business. Always have an extra suit. Eye drops. Nail kit. She handed over the nail polish remover. "Doing your nails before you go home?"

Casey merely smiled again, though it looked more like a grimace, and then took the bottle with her free hand, the other still behind her back. "Thanks," she said. "You're a lifesaver. I'll have it back soon." And she left quickly, looking a little too relieved.

* * *

When Serena finally packed up for the day, Jack was still in his office. She knew she should check in, but was just too curious about Casey's behavior earlier and too nosy for her own good.

Serena stood in Casey's open doorway, looking at her furiously wiping at her hand with a wet paper towel.

Casey looked like she was at her wits end. "This is so not fair," she said.

"What's not fair?"

Casey jumped a little at the sound of her voice.

Then she sighed and then continued in a resigned tone, "I opened the package exactly as the directions said to. And I mean, word for word."

Serena gave her a questioning glance.

She waved a hand at her desk. Where, in the middle of her hand sat a deflated tube of super glue.

"The damn thing burst open."

She sighed again and presented her right hand, frozen in a cup shape, glued shut, large piece of a coffee mug on the desk in front of her.

Serena's hand flew over her mouth, trying to cover the smile and shock that she felt would just rub things in. She looked back down at the desk. And noticed the rest of the all too familiar coffee mug. So, the damn thing was not indestructible after all. She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

"I looked it up. Nail polish remover is supposed to work." She looked up, more embarrassed than distressed. "It's not working."

Serena looked at her little paper towel that she was dabbing at her hand with. "Maybe you're not using enough."

She took the bottle and thoroughly wet the towel. "Give me your hand." She smiled, noticing the slight shake it had.

After a minute, she realized that it was working, but it was just not going to get it all, that it was going to take forever. The creases between her fingers were completely opaque; there was so much glue in there.

"I think we might have to call for advice, or go to an Urgent Care."

She blushed even harder and bit her lip.

"Great, that will be fun… yes, hi, I super glued all of my fingers together… what? No, I'm actually an assistant district attorney…"

"It's alright, I know someone I can call," Serena said.

"I know it seems like I am as embarrassed as I possibly could be, but I assure you, there is room for more."

"It's my brother. He's discreet and he probably won't care."

Serena looked over at her trying to will her fingers apart. She lightly slapped her hand when she tried to pick at the glue again. Finally Bobby answered the phone.

It took a while to convince him that the advice she wasn't seeking for herself.

She passed the phone to Casey and listened to her side of the conversation, which consisted of yeses and a couple of okays, before she handed the phone back.

"He said to tell you it was nice of you to call for something other than medical testimony questions and that it was your turn to call your father next."

"Did he tell you what to do?"

"Yeah, I need a pen."

She handed her a pen, and watched use it to stab through the space at the base of her first and middle fingers, ever so slowly prying it through, and forcing her fingers apart.

Serena was wincing for her.

It worked, though, and it was almost comical the way she kept separating each newly freed finger, stretching it, grinning when she could finally stretch her entire hand out.

Serena smiled at her and grabbed the acetone soaked paper towel and her hand again. It worked much better now that her fingers were separated. The glue was finally coming off.

Casey's hands were quite warm. Which was strange because she thought she remembered Casey said she usually had cold hands. But then again, we were standing so close she could feel the heat of her body too.

They were both looking so intently at her hand that they didn't notice that their heads were nearly touching.

Serena looked up though, and Casey's face was right in front of her. She could see how red her eyelashes were.

Casey looked up at her too, noticing that Serena had stopped swabbing at her hand and was staring.

The moment became heavy and intense and electric. Serena leaned the rest of the way into her. And kissed her.

After what seemed like a long moment, moment where she was too stunned to do anything but let Serena kiss her, Casey recovered from the shock and started to kiss back. It was warm and sweet, and slowly gathering in a surprising intensity.

She placed her free hand on Serena's back. Serena's moved to the nape of her neck, tangling it into the soft red hair. But she was still holding Casey's newly un-glued hand in one of hers, preventing their bodies from getting closer and keeping them in a slightly awkward position. And before they could rectify that, Serena's phone rang.

She ignored it for a moment, and thought about ignoring it further, but finally, they broke apart with nervous laughter.

She looked at her phone's readout, noting with foreboding that it was her boss. Of course it was.

Casey ducked her head and stepped back to the desk and cleaned up nail polish remover.

"I'm sorry, I should get this…"

"Are you still around?" Jack asked. "Green's called us to a scene. It looks like our key witness might have been kidnapped or have bolted."

Serena hated her job so much in that moment. She ran a hand through her hair and stifled a sigh.

"Yeah, I'll be right there," She answered him. She hung up and looked at Casey. "I'm really sorry, but I have to go to a scene."

She gave me a reassuring smile, complete with dimples. "It's okay."

"Can I call you later?"

"Of course," she said.


	15. Chapter 15

**15**

She was going to call her the next day.

She intended to and wanted to, but she found herself almost a little nervous about it, which wasn't really like her, but she _was_ going to call her. She just, hadn't, yet.

When it came down to it, she didn't really even understand how all this had happened, or when it had happened. She didn't understand how something like this have snuck up on her. She hadn't really been this stupid about someone in a long time. And in her personal history, she had _rarely_ been one to chase after someone, or the one to call.

The most recent excuse she gave herself was that she didn't have Casey's cell number.

It was a very weak excuse, she knew, but she still didn't want to call Casey on her work number. She couldn't fathom how she didn't end up with her phone number, she'd seen so much of the woman over the last month or so: out at drinks, walking home with the coffee, the flat tire in the park, and then at Alex's party.

She she could easily obtain her number. She even knew who she _should_ ask.

But at that moment, when she was trying to figure out how she could get the number from Alex without getting her involved in the situation, it hit her. Out of the blue, everything suddenly added up.

All of the coincidences that had happened since she was struck on the head with a coffee mug.

The realizations filtered into her consciousness with absolute surety.

She knew, and it nearly floored her. Her best friend had been trying to set her up.

* * *

She got to Alex's building in record time. She was completely indignant by the time she got into the elevator. She had to admit it that her feelings may have been aided by a natural nervousness, but she still felt she had a right to be fuming though.

She had no idea why they would have done this to her. Ordinarily, she was a confident woman who didn't really find dating all that difficult. Granted, she hadn't found someone she was interested in for a while. But all of this… it had completely her off her game, and didn't know what the hell she was supposed to do next.

She was _this_ close to chasing after Casey Novak.

She had never chased after anybody in her entire life. And besides, she didn't even know if she had any business chasing after anyone right now.

The elevator binged, and she took a breath and resolutely marched straight for Alex's door.

* * *

When Alex answered the loud and forceful knock, Serena said nothing, just stood with her arms crossed, staring Alex down.

Alex cocked her head in confusion for a short moment, but then recovered. The twitch in her lip revealing the fact that she had a very good guess as to why Serena was at her door. And on her face, a terrible, devious, way-too-pleased-with-herself grin grew slowly.

Serena was sure of it now, Alex knew.

She always, always fucking knew.

"Why?" Serena said.

Alex bit her lip to prevent herself from laughing.

"It's not funny," she said, trying to keep her steam.

Alex gave her a short nod indicating for her to continue.

"You are my closest friend. You're not supposed to be fucking with my life." She paused trying to stay mad. "For weeks."

"I just wanted you to be happy."

That took some of the wind out of her sails, but some of the indignity was still smoldering. "I was fine."

"I know you were fine. There is more to life though, than just being fine."

"And what makes you think I can't get that for myself anyway."

"Of course you can, you could any time… you just weren't. "

"Maybe you two can not argue in the hallway," Olivia said from somewhere behind Alex.

"We're not arguing," she said, louder, but marched through the open door, nonetheless. She pointed at Olivia as she walked by. "You, I'm not speaking to."

Olivia looked at Alex with a very clear _I told you so_ expression on her face, but retreated nonetheless.

"Why are you so upset?" Alex said.

"I'm not upset, I'm just annoyed that my _supposed_ best friend is trying to choreograph my life."

"What is it, exactly, that you object to? Is it Casey? Because she's pretty great. And she's crazy for you. So, I don't really see the problem."

"No," Serena ground out. "It's not her I have a problem with."

"Then what?"

"I get to be the one to decide if I want to start something, when _I_ am ready?"

"Is that it?"Alex said, her voice taking on the tone she carried when she was on a roll in court. "You mean to tell me you're just scared then?"

"I never said that."

Alex paused looking at Serena like she had her exactly where she wanted her. "Are you really going to let fear keep you from starting something that could be good?"

Serena sighed. She wanted to bury her face in her hands, take a deep breath, and magically divine her next step. She rolled her eyes, internally groaning and wondering why Casey had to be so cute. "I don't know if I should make the next move."

Alex dropped her front and softened her expression.

Olivia cleared her throat and reaffirmed her presence. "Well, I don't think waiting is going to work. Casey is probably not going to. She thinks you're out of her league," she said.

"Still not talking to you," Serena said.

"Olivia's right though," Alex said. "Look, why don't you just call her."

Serena's posture stiffened again and she glared hard at Alex. "I only have her work number and it didn't seem…" she said the next word through clenched teeth, " _proper_."

Lawyers all have a tell.

Alex's is a particular, smug, knowing, superior, joyful glint that tells you that you have walked right into her trap. It was present in Alex's eyes often and particularly in this moment. "We have it," Alex said. She smiled and picked up her phone to look up Casey's information. "Why don't you take her to dinner tonight."

Serena stared at her through still narrowed eyes, however, no denial was forthcoming, so Alex pressed on.

"Take our reservation," Alex said, smiling again, knowing Olivia would be just as happy to order in and not get dressed again to go out.

Serena still stared at her, "Thanks mom, are you going to press my favorite dress for me, too?"

Alex's grin grew until it resembled the fucking cheshire cat.

"Do you want to continue to be mad at me about this?" she said. "Or do you want to take my hard-to-get, Saturday night, dinner reservation?" She moved to her purse and fished around in it until she came back with a piece of paper. She held her hand out with the information. When Serena refused to take it, she gently placed it on the counter nearby.

Serena looked at it and recognized it the name. It was a very nice restaurant, embedded into the NY psyche no matter how many times it changed hands. It was always nice, and never too pretentious. And it was known for it's amazing view of the NY skyline. It was absolutely the type of restaurant she'd love to take Casey to. Alex was trying to orchestrate everything for her once again.

Before Serena could argue any further, her phone rang, and the instant she answered it, her face beamed she couldn't stop it. "Hi, I wast just going to call you," Serena said, before exiting the room for privacy.

Alex looked at Olivia with furrowed brows.

"You two were drawing this out too long," She said. "I sent Casey her number and told her to call."

Alex smiled at her with her know it all, pleased, master-of-the-universe smile.

Olivia sighed. "I might as well be in this thing fully if I'm being blamed for it anyway."

Alex opened bottle of wine and ordered Olivia's favorite takeout for them while they waited to see what would happen with Serena.

Eventually Serena came back into the room, quietly took the reservation information and slipped it neatly into her pocket.

"You," Serena said, staring at Olivia first, "Are on my list. And you," she looked at Alex. "You are going to be lucky if you get _any_ details. Ever," she said as she strode out of their home.

* * *

 **15.5**

* * *

Serena was impressed with herself for not giggling right away. She turned over and peered over the side of the bed. Still boneless from sleep, Serena watched her with a burgeoning giddy energy.

On the floor, Casey had succumbed to the fall from the bed so completely, that she hadn't bothered getting up.

She was pretty sure the woman was okay though, since she heard a groan before a fair arm reached up to grabbed a pillow she proceeded to bury her head with.

Serena smiled still etched on her face, let her eyes roam over the body prone on the floor; the soft skin with a smattering of freckles, the curves of her, the breadth of her shoulders still visible under the pillow. It was strangely intimate, looking at her this way, she wanted to run her fingers over the flexed arms holding the pillow over her head, instead, she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Everything but my pride," Casey muttered from under the pillow.

"Well, I didn't see the landing, but the dismount was impressive," Serena said, gently teasing.

"I'm sure points were deducted for head contact."

"You bumped your head? Where?"

Casey begrudgingly tossed the pillow back on the bed and sat up closer to Serena and pressed her fingers to the spot that still ached a bit.

Serena ran her hands over the small bump forming in Casey's scalp. "Well, I think the bed was the clear winner. But if you worked on it, I'm pretty you could take the nightstand."

Casey smirked at her.

"Where were you going?"

"I was going to make some coffee, and see if I had anything I could make for breakfast in case you were hungry."

She moved her hand from the small bump to run her fingers leisurely through the red locks. "You want to make me breakfast."

Casey shrugged. "If you'd like some."

"Well, I wouldn't turn down a nice offer like that."

"But I was _trying_ to let you sleep. I kind of got caught between the covers tucked under you and the end of the bed."

"That's okay, I enjoyed the early morning theatrics."

"Well, that's good then," Casey smiled and moved to place a brief kiss on her lips.

* * *

Casey had thrown on a threadbare t-shirt advertising a marathon from years past and a pair of small pajama shorts to cook in. She was moving about her kitchen with efficiency, cutting up fruit and preparing other items with ease and hints of moving with the music from the radio in the corner.

She looked up at Serena, noticing the staring, and smiled. "Are you going to watch me the whole time?"

Serena was perched on a stool, nursing her coffee and wearing Casey's robe. She quirked her eyebrows and smirked. "I'm a slow morning person, but I thought I'd keep you company. Watch your breakfast technique."

Casey ducked her head and smiled.

"So, what would you normally like do on a Sunday morning?"

"I'd go out for a run or maybe a spin class, and then get the paper on the way back home, shower, breakfast…" She smiled. "How about you?"

"Just like you I like to be _very_ productive in the weekend mornings," she said seriously. "Let's see, on my usual agenda is - that I sleep in, eventually get up and make coffee, and _maybe_ get the paper and then bring everything back to bed. " Serena winked.

* * *

"Would you like to go out again, soon?" Casey asked the floor in front of Serena's feet.

Serena goes up to her, tilts her chin up, and kisses her until she hears something that's not unlike a whimper. "What does that tell you?"

"That you're an amazing kisser?"

She received another kiss for that one.

"Would you want to go out on Tuesday night?" Casey said.

"Perfect. Just don't tell Alex."

"Okay, but Why?"

"Or Olivia, but that's the same as telling Alex anyway…"

"I'm not following."

"Trust me… her smugness will be able to be seen from space."

"You think she'll be that bad."

"I think we should both be on radio silence about this and see how long those two last before asking."

"Vindictive," Casey said.

Serena flashed her eyebrows and grinned, wickedly.

"I like that in a woman."


	16. Chapter 16

**16** _not quite an epilogue_

* * *

Olivia looked up and frowned, watching her agitated girlfriend finally slow her rant. She tried again, hesitantly. "You could just apologize."

Alex paused her undressing and stepped further out of the closet, still half-undressed. "What is it that you think I have to apologize for?"

She held a hand up, trying to halt some of the rising fight in Alex's temper. "For setting up your best friend."

"Why should I be sorry about that? It was a good idea, and it was thoroughly successful. They are absolutely into each other. In fact," Alex said, confidence doubled in her voice. "Every time they are around each other they both light up. I am _not_ sorry that they are getting together," she said. "You know I'm right."

"I know," Olivia said, trying her best to placate her partner. "I meant, apologize for setting her up without her knowledge… for not asking her.'

"You know very well that if I had asked her, she wouldn't have given it a chance." Calmed a bit, she walked back into the closet to remove the rest of her suit. "If anything," she called out, "she should be thanking me."

"She will, someday." Olivia said, laying back against the pillows. "I know you are annoyed with her, I'm just saying, if you want to know what's going on, you are going to have to ask her."

Alex came back into the bedroom and sat down softly next to her, but still didn't look pleased.

"If it makes you feel better," Olivia continued. "I saw some sort of delivery on Casey's desk the other day. The card said - _Looking forward to Tuesday. I hope your head feels better."_

"Her head? What happened to her head?"

 _"_ _I_ have no idea. I do know who would know and I'm not going to be the one who asks."

"Olivia…"

 **"** **No."**


End file.
